Politics

Justice Department Watchdog Releases Damning Andrew McCabe Report

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The Justice Department’s office of the inspector general released a long-awaited report on Friday accusing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of “lack of candor” about his authorization of leaks to the media.

The report, first published by The New York Times, asserts that McCabe misled the DOJ watchdog and former FBI Director James Comey about the leak authorizations. He also misled the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility about the leaks.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on March 16, less than two days before he was set to retire. The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended that McCabe be fired for “lack of candor” during interviews about the leak authorizations.

McCabe an FBI official to speak with The Wall Street Journal about an article regarding the Clinton investigation. Page sought to put a positive spin on McCabe and the FBI’s handling of the investigation. But she also disclosed that the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton family charity, was under investigation.

McCabe has maintained that he did nothing wrong. He says his high-level position allowed him to interact with the media. He has also said he did not lie to the inspector general’s office about the media disclosures. He has also disputed that he misled his boss, James Comey.

McCabe raised more than $500,000 earlier this month for his legal defense fund.

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee responded to the release of the report by attacking Republicans.

“The Republicans have been transparent in their work to discredit and distract from the work of the Russia investigation, so let me be clear: the report issued by the Inspector General today has absolutely nothing to do with Special Counsel Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, the conduct of federal investigators so far, or the multiple indictments they have secured against Russian nationals and Trump campaign officials,” New York Rep. Jerry Nadler said in a statement.

“President Trump will no doubt gloat about these findings and misuse them in his ongoing disinformation campaign,” he continued, asserting that House Republicans “will almost certainly try to use this report to fuel their efforts to distract from the abuses of power by this Administration and to undermine the Department of Justice.”

“Together, they will do everything in their power to lay the groundwork for attacking our judicial system and to prevent the Special Counsel from completing his investigation.”

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