Down goes Frazier, err Andrew McCabe

[FantasticDan]

Originally Posted by elysiantraveller

The increasing paranoia out of the President and WH is... interesting.

No big deal, that's just how innocent, non-desperate and non-panicked people act.

[newtothegame]

Originally Posted by Clocker

The administration dragging the pension into this is chicken shite. It makes Sessions and the administration look small and partisan to everyone on the left and to a lot of people who are non-partisan. It gives the impression that the administration can't prove anything, so they are just being vindictive.

Take the high road for once. If the guy did something wrong, bring charges and send him to prison. Otherwise write it off to experience and clean house at the FBI.

And I would say the same for Mueller and the dems who have politicized their targeting!

[davew]

19 FBI personal have been fired during the last year for lacking candor, being dishonest, lying....

[upthecreek]

Twitter

[Show Me the Wire]

Holder sounds like a person, who is worried. He already is tainting and attacking the FBI's and the DOJ's ability to be impartial and investigate itself. He flat out states that the career professionals, just like McCabe cannot stand up to political pressure of an administration.

Interestingly neither McCabe nor his lawyer have stated or claimed that McCabe is innocent; only that the timing of his firing is cruel.

The more I hear from people like Holder and McCabe that career professionals, like McCabe, cannot be trusted to be impartial and independent from political administrations, the stronger the argument that another independent counsel needs to be appointed to investigate the FBI's and the DOJ's involvement in FISA abuses and the appointment of Mueller.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by FantasticDan

No big deal, that's just how innocent, non-desperate and non-panicked people act.

You do realize that the recommendation to fire McCabe came from, McCabe's peers, who are career professional FBI agents? Career professionals like Strzok who we have been told, despite his texts, could be trusted to do his job impartially and fairly, because he is a career professional.

I am confused, we are expected to trust the likes of Strzok, but not career professionals in the OIG and the OPR, who after a year long investigation found McCabe lied under oath and then recommended his termination?

[Clocker]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

Holder sounds like a person, who is worried. He already is tainting and attacking the FBI's and the DOJ's ability to be impartial and investigate itself. He flat out states that the career professionals, just like McCabe cannot stand up to political pressure of an administration.

Interestingly neither McCabe nor his lawyer have stated or claimed that McCabe is innocent; only that the timing of his firing is cruel.

The administration is not handling this well. All evidence seems to point against McCabe, but the process and the publicity makes it looks like a witch hunt. This lets the liberal media ignore the facts and concentrate on the process.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by Clocker

The administration is not handling this well. All evidence seems to point against McCabe, but the process and the publicity makes it looks like a witch hunt. This lets the liberal media ignore the facts and concentrate on the process.

What does the administration have to do with McCabe's peers doing their jobs investigating and making recommendations? McCabe's peers, career professionals in the OIG found wrongdoing by McCabe and the wrong doing is a terminable offense. The career professionals in the OPR based on the OIG professionals' findings made the recommendation to the AG to terminate McCabe.

The administration, unless you believe the spin, has nothing to do with McCabe's termination. McCabe was investigated by his fellow career professionals and a result of this investigation his fellow career professionals recommended that McCabe be fired. Based on those facts, not firing McCabe would be an egregious miscarriage of justice.

The media is concentrating on the process, and they are pushing the narrative the FBI and DOJ, carrer professionals, are politically tainted and cave in to political administrations. Hmm sounds like a familiar lament from the President and how the FBI and DOJ were used against him.

[Clocker]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

What does the administration have to do with McCabe's peers doing their jobs investigating and making recommendations?

How about Trump's tweets calling for firing him and taking away his pension? Does that contribute to an appearance of a fair and impartial process?

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by Clocker

How about Trump's tweets calling for firing him and taking away his pension? Does that contribute to an appearance of a fair and impartial process?

If you believe career professional agents are impartial, like we are suppose to believe Strzok, despite his disparaging texts, was fair and impartial in his investigations of Clinton, and fair and impartial by actually starting the investigation into the Trump campaign for collusion with Russia, then you must believe the President's tweets did not impact the process.

If we are to believe that Mueller did not violate ethical standards about impropriety and the appearance of impropriety as a prosecutor being fast and close friends with a witness, Comey, again the President's tweets are insignificant to the process.

It cannot be both ways, either the FBI and DOJ are tainted by political administrations, as McCabe, Holder, others and the press are now alleging or career professional agents are the bulwark against political influence, including Presidential tweets.

I am glad the press and people like Holder and McCabe are taking the position career FBI and DOJ are politically tainted and cannot be trusted to investigate themselves. These concerns highlight the necessity of an new independent counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ's past and current investigations.

The President's tweets show that he is being very transparent and clear about his belief regarding corruption in the FBI and DOJ at the highest levels and the consequences for corruption.

[elysiantraveller]

I don't really get it either.

If he did something illegal press charges. If you wanted him removed from any role he already did that months ago. If you wanted to fire him back then just go ahead and do it.

Waiting until 48 hours from his retirement? Seems petty and childish.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by Clocker

How about Trump's tweets calling for firing him and taking away his pension? Does that contribute to an appearance of a fair and impartial process?

Let me ask you a question. Does fair and impartial process mean to be influenced by the timing of the terminable offense? If you commit a terminable offense a year or two before you are eligible to collect your full pension and that specific terminable event is discovered just prior to your retirement, should there be no consequences based solely on the fact you were not caught just prior to receiving your pension?

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by elysiantraveller

I don't really get it either.

If he did something illegal press charges. If you wanted him removed from any role he already did that months ago. If you wanted to fire him back then just go ahead and do it.

Waiting until 48 hours from his retirement? Seems petty and childish.

It depends on, the timing, when those career professional agents submitted the report recommending McCabe's termination. Terminating McCabe without the OIG investigation would violate McCAbe's right to due process, i.e. taking away his property (pension).

There is no indication that the OPR report is independent of the OIG report. The OIG report is currently being finalized and the recommendation to terminate is based on the current findings of the current OIG report.

What McCAbe did may not may not be illegal, but according to the OPR recommendation he committed a terminable offense. If his actions were illegal too, like lying under oath to an FBI agent McCAbe is open to criminal charges too.

I will ask you the same question I asked Clocker. Does fair and impartial process mean to be influenced by the timing of the terminable offense? If you commit a terminable offense a year or two before you are eligible to collect your full pension and that specific terminable event is discovered just prior to your retirement, should there be no consequences based solely on the fact you were not caught just prior to receiving your pension?

[FantasticDan]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

Interestingly neither McCabe nor his lawyer have stated or claimed that McCabe is innocent; only that the timing of his firing is cruel.

McCabe said a little bit more than that.

Statement by Andrew McCabe:
I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us. No more.

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people.

Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey's accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG's focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work.

I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. To have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.

I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by FantasticDan

McCabe said a little bit more than that.

Yes, he did. He called Comey a liar and a perjurer by stating Comey knew about McCabe's interaction with the press, when Comey under oath stated he did not authorize anyone to leak to the press.

McCabe stated that people in Obama's DOJ obstructed the Clinton investigation McCabe wanted to continue.

McCabe states the FBI career professional agents cannot be trusted, becuase they are politicized, etc.

McCabe conveniently leaves out that he was always part of the focus of the OIG investigation regarding his failure to recuse himself from the Clinton investigation, while his wife was a candidate for election.

In other words he is doing exactly what he accuses the President of doing, tainting and besmirching the career professionals of the FBI and DOJ.

This is McCabe's defense, The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.


The report was accelerated is the wrong doing.

I sincerely hope McCabe keeps on arguing that the FBI and DOJ are politicized.