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With the news yesterday that the Department of Justice inspector general had referred his findings regarding former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe to the U.S. attorney in Washington for possible prosecution, it seemed as if a narrative had been finally laid to rest. It turns out McCabe was no hero of the #resistance. He was a bureaucrat who lied . . .. . . When you read the inspector general’s report, released last week, a clear picture emerges. McCabe not only leaked sensitive information to the media in violation of relevant DOJ policies, but he lied about those leaks to his boss, James Comey, and to internal investigators. Indeed, the “lack of candor†is so clear, so brazen, that one wonders how McCabe conducted his post-termination public-relations campaign, which included an emotional op-ed in the Washington Post, knowing full well the truth would eventually come out.Specifically, McCabe authorized subordinates (namely, the now-infamous Lisa Page) to talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett not just about an ongoing FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation but also about rifts between the FBI and the Obama DOJ. Then, after these carefully planned leaks, McCabe misled Comey, FBI investigators, and the inspector general regarding several material facts.In other words, not only did he deserve to be fired, but prosecutors should carefully consider whether to bring charges. He is no martyr. Every dime of the $567,996 raised on GoFundMe for the “Andrew McCabe Defense Fund†should be refunded, with an apology. He’s a victim not of Trump-administration vindictiveness but rather of his own misdeeds . . .. . . The inspector general’s report is fascinating in other ways. It deals a blow to two different narratives, one Republican and the other Democrat, revealing that the emerging story of the “deep state,†the Trump administration, and the 2016 election is far more complicated than partisans have portrayed . . . The emerging facts, however, indicate that Comey, McCabe, and even Page departed from DOJ policy late in the campaign to hit the Clinton campaign, hard, with news that (1) confirmed that the email investigation had been reopened; (2) confirmed the existence of an FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation; and (3) exposed deep rifts with the Obama DOJ, including McCabe’s dramatic confrontation with a senior Obama official who “expressed concerns about FBI agents taking overt steps in the CF Investigation during the presidential campaign" . . .. . . In fact, the more we learn about the 2016 campaign, the worse the Obama DOJ looks. The inspector general’s report and the Comey book tour represent a reminder of its improper pressure and improper behavior — from the pressure to call the Clinton email investigation a mere “matter,†to the tarmac meeting, to the president’s own comments dismissing the scandal, and to the pressure placed on the FBI to refrain from taking “overt steps†in the Clinton Foundation investigation. An allegedly “scandal-free†administration seems to have placed its thumb on the scales of justice.We may have to wait years to learn the full story of the 2016 election. Indeed, some facts may remain forever hidden or forever disputed. But the McCabe inspector-general report should serve as a reminder to maintain an open mind. As my friend Ben Shapiro is fond of saying, “Facts don’t care about feelings.†The legal corollary is that evidence is indifferent to your narrative. So, here we are. McCabe is no hero of the #resistance. The FBI helped beat Hillary. And the Trump DOJ can still do things by the book. Ponder those truths while we wait for the next shoes to drop.
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Topic: Andrew McCabe Report Explodes Republican and Democratic Myths Alike (Read 292 times)
