Friday, April 20th 2018 WASHINGTON (Circa) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation itself may be the target of a criminal investigation after an internal Justice Department review concluded the agency’s former No. 2, Andrew McCabe misled federal agents and leaked information to the press.
On Thursday, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) sent a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. where prosecutors will determine whether or not to file charges against the former deputy director of the FBI.
McCabe’s alleged misconduct comes at a time when the Justice Department’s current and former leadership face accusations of political interference and bias in handling the investigations of President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The allegations against McCabe are “hugely significant,” former FBI special agent Bobby Chacon said. Never before has such a high-ranking official in the bureau been so seriously accused of criminal misconduct. “Beyond the particular criminal allegations, the bigger picture is the person accused of the crime is accused of basically using the FBI as a weapon.”
McCabe is accused of using his position at the top of FBI for his own personal, political interests, an action that the inspector general says came at the expense of “undermining public confidence in the Department as a whole.”
The report dealing with McCabe’s alleged misconduct is “concerning,” said former White House counsel and career attorney, C. Boyden Gray. “I think the American public is going to come away from this with a reduced respect for the FBI, which I think is unfortunate.”
Recent polls suggest the FBI is already losing public support, with more Americans likely to believe the department is politically motivated. According to Chacon, one way to stop that perception is by sending a clear warning.
“You make an example of someone like McCabe who clearly crossed the line,” Chacon said. “Holding McCabe responsible and holding him out as an example may hopefully deter that kind of behavior in the future by people who get up to his position.”
The Department of Justice originally began an internal review to determine the source of a leak to the Wall Street Journal, published in an October 30, 2016 story, just days before the presidential election.
The unnamed source provided reporters with more details on the target and scope of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, a fact that James Comey made public two days earlier. The source also effectively confirmed a second investigation into the Clinton Foundation, something Comey refused to do.
Further, the report depicted an opinionated Department of Justice leadership that was “very pissed off” at the FBI for continuing to pursue the Clinton probe after Comey cleared the former Secretary of State of criminal wrongdoing.
During the investigation, the Office of the Inspector General, led by Michael Horowitz, concluded the former deputy director “lacked candor” on four separate occasions, three times under oath. McCabe also misled investigators “knowingly and intentionally,” the report concluded.
Moreover, the report claimed McCabe’s motivation for leaking details to the press was personal and driven by political considerations. According to the OIG, McCabe disclosed the information “in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership.”
Multiple news reports were published questioning McCabe’s impartiality in overseeing the Clinton investigation. The former deputy director was accused of ordering the termination of the probe and was criticized for his wife Jill McCabe’s receipt of $700,000 in campaign contributions from Clinton ally and ex-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.
COMEY COMPLICATIONS
The inspector general report and criminal referral put the FBI’s former No. 2 back in the spotlight as the agency’s former director was kicking off a book tour for his new tell-all, “A Higher Loyalty.”
“He’s not making himself look good,” Chacon said. Comey’s “petty personal attacks” against Donald Trump in his book will do little to combat the public perception that Comey and the FBI at large is political.
“Unfortunately it has dragged us back center stage, which is damaging to the agents that are still working there. I don’t think Comey cares very much about that,” he continued, adding if the public is going to regain confidence in the FBI, the bureau’s leadership has to stop making political headlines.
That may not happen anytime soon, because the McCabe report raised new questions about former FBI Director James Comey.
After the October 2016 Wall Street Journal report was published, revealing a second investigation into the Clinton Foundation, Comey reportedly sought out the source of the leak, asking McCabe if he authorized it or knew who did. The OIG report determined McCabe led Comey to believe he had not authorized the disclosure and didn’t know who did.
Months later, in sworn testimony before Congress, Comey said he was never an anonymous source and never authorized another FBI official to be an anonymous source in news reports dealing with the Clinton or Trump investigations.
However, in a statement released after he was fired, McCabe claimed his interaction with the reporter was authorized. “It was not a secret,” he said, claiming James Comey was “aware of the interaction with the reporter.”
McCabe then claimed to be the victim of a politically motivated attack “driven by the President himself.”
The disagreement between the former FBI officials heated up Thursday when Comey told CNN he would be willing to testify against McCabe if the U.S. attorney files charges. “Given that the IG’s report reflects interactions that Andy McCabe had with me and other senior executives, I could well be a witness,” Comey said.
Trump, who said it was “an honor” to fire Comey and celebrated McCabe’s ouster as “a great day for Democracy,” weighed in Thursday, tweeting, “James Comey just threw Andrew McCabe ‘under the bus.’ Inspector Generals’ Report on McCabe is a disaster for both of them!”
Given the contradictory statements in the public record, Chacon suggested the back and forth between Comey and McCabe will not end well. If the case is brought to trial, any cross-examination will reveal the inconsistencies in both men’s claims.
“These people are turning on each other,” he said. “This is the mess that they’ve gotten themselves into by lying so publicly. Eventually, it all comes back to haunt you.”
Republicans in Congress are separately seeking a criminal investigation of Comey and his handling of both the Clinton investigation and his leak of personal memos about President Trump to the media. The group of 11 House Republicans also sought criminal investigations of another half-dozen former officials, including Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP TWEETS COULD BACKFIRE
The one constant in the McCabe, Comey saga, is the allegation of political bias.
President Trump has claimed the two FBI officials were motivated by personal and political animus against him, but his repeated public attacks against the two could become a factor in the U.S. attorney’s decision to file criminal charges.
For months leading up to his firing by Attorney General Sessions, McCabe was a target of President Donald Trump’s ire both for his role in exonerating Hillary Clinton and his cooperation with Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign.
After getting rid of former FBI Director James Comey, the president regularly turned his attention to Obama-era holdover Andrew McCabe, suggesting in July 2017 that Sessions should “replace” the then-acting FBI director.
When McCabe was fired, Trump celebrated it as “a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI.”
Trump again weighed in after Inspector General Horowitz issued his final report, saying McCabe “LIED! LIED! LIED!” A few days later he tweeted Comey, McCabe “and the others, committed many crimes!”
In the longrun, Chacon warned Trump’s tweets could hurt the case against McCabe. “Unfortunately, by tweeting out so much, a defense attorney can make the argument that the whole case was brought because of Trump’s pressure.”
That is precisely what McCabe’s lawyer and former DOJ inspector general Michael Bromwich argued in a recent statement.
Calling the criminal referral “unjustified” and based on a “rush to judgment” driven by political considerations, Bromwich stated, “We are confident that, unless there is inappropriate pressure from high levels of the Administration, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will conclude that it should decline to prosecute.”
The U.S. attorney will have to consider the president’s tweets and public statements in assessing whether the case will be successful if they go to trial, Chacon noted. “And if they feel they can’t and if one of the reasons they can’t is because of those tweets, that would be a shame.”
https://www.circa.com/story/2018/04/20/politics/prosecutors-should-make-an-example-of-mccabe-says-former-fbi-agent
