Donald Trump loves to paint himself as a man who “fights back” when criticized, even when fighting back may actually be the first piece in an obstruction of justice case. He becomes furious, however, when others do the same.
Not only has Trump been on a particularly heated stream of rants against former FBI Director James Comey, who fought back against his termination by writing a book and refusing to back down from his assertions that Trump was lying about his interactions with Comey, his ire has been fueled by Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller, Jeff Sessions, and in particular in recent days, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
A report from Axios on Friday showed that McCabe also intends to “fight back” against attacks like those in Trump’s tweets as well as the president’s unprecedented calls for McCabe’s arrest and incarceration for crimes he has not yet been convicted of having committed.
Axios quoted McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, as saying:
‘We’ve never seen anything like this before. It does damage not only to Andy McCabe individually but also to the FBI as an institution.’
The news of McCabe’s intended lawsuit follows reports that an Inspector General’s request to the Attorney General’s office that McCabe’s actions be reviewed for possible crimes.” McCabe’s attorney, however, issued statements “emphasizing the low standard for a referral from the OIG’s office.”
US Justice Dept. has received a referral recommending a criminal charge against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for allegedly lying to federal investigators, legal source familiar with the issue tells @NBCNews.https://t.co/sSmJ77K7zL – @CNN
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) April 19, 2018
One of the IG report‘s findings is centered around an incident from October 2016 in which the IG says that McCabe authorized leaks to the media about the FBI’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
‘Among the purposes of the disclosure was to rebut a narrative that had been developing following a story in the WSJ on October 23, 2016, that questioned McCabe’s impartiality in overseeing FBI investigations involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and claimed that McCabe had ordered the termination of the CF Investigation due to Department of Justice pressure. The disclosure to the WSJ effectively confirmed the existence of the CF Investigation, which then-FBI Director Comey had previously refused to do.’
Breaking: Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has created a legal defense fund to help him pay for congressional investigations and a possible wrongful termination and defamation case he may file against the Trump administration, @johnson_carrie reports.
— NPR (@NPR) April 20, 2018
The claims made becoming even more confusing when one focuses on the fact that McCabe had no reason at any time to lie about his authorization of releases to the media regarding the Clinton Foundation investigation. Only two people in the country had the power and the authority to approve those leaks. One is named James Comey, and the other is Andrew McCabe.
Comey: McCabe had authority to speak to press but did not consult me, which I would have expected pic.twitter.com/aQIseJeV9u
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 20, 2018
McCabe did, however, correct his statements made under oath that he had not authorized leaks and was unsure who had leaked the information, although it is unclear at this point whether the leaks he later admitted to authorizing were around the same particular leaks he was asked about earlier during his testimony.
Featured image via Getty/Pete Marovitch