Katie has been waiting patientlyfor this report to drop. It’s reportedly a monster, numbering some 500 pages on the conduct of fired FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe during the 2016 election. Three major investigations occurred during this period: the Hillary email probe, the Russian collusion probe, and the investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The IG report will focus on the Clinton email probe, but the inquiry into the foundation made it onto the pages of The Wall Street Journal, where tensions between the FBI and DOJ over this investigation were disclosed. McCabe, who then lied to investigators who were looking into the leak, disclosed it. Why? Well, he oversaw parts of the Clinton email probe and there was something that could be viewed as a conflict of interest. Let’s go back to what we wrote last month, which was included in the Journal piece:
It also included that McCabe's wife, Jill, who ran for Virginia Senate in 2015, received over $400,000 in campaign contributions from then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s PAC in July of that year. A few things happened during and after that election: a) McCabe was promoted to deputy director; and b) the FBI announced they were investigating Hillary Clinton for possibly mishandling classified information, an investigation McCabe oversaw. McAuliffe is a close ally of the Clintons. In fact, you could say his one major job, as governor was to ensure Virginia went for Hillary; it did.
It would look as if McCabe’s familyreceived a down payment for political protection, hence why it appears he leaked that he didn’t want to fully shut down the Clinton Foundation probe, trying to paint the DOJ in a bad light for wanting to, for lack of a better term, move on from the investigation.
When an investigation was launched into the leak, he lied to investigators, who then wasted countless hours and manpower trying to find a mole, which was McCabe the whole time.
He was later fired hours before being able to collect a very hefty pension from the bureau. And this was on recommendation from the Office of Professional Responsibility.
We’ll see what else is in the report , which is expected to drop sometime today. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said if warranted, more firing could occur at the FBI (via The Hill):
In an exclusive interview with The Hill’s new TV show "Rising," set to air Thursday morning, Sessions defended the decision to fire ex-Director James Comey, who he said “made a big mistake” that belied a “serious breach of discipline.”
Sessions also made clear that he is open to firing more employees if the Justice Department inspector general’s soon-to-be-released report warrants it.
“I think it will be a lengthy report and a careful report,” he told "Rising" co-host Buck Sexton. “I think it will help us better fix any problems that we have and reassure the American people that some of the concerns that have been raised are not true.”
For Comey, the report will focus on his actions that led to the July 5 presser in which he declined to press charges against Hillary Clinton and the October 28 letter that said the FBI would be reviewing more emails found of Huma Abedin’s laptop; Abedin is a top Clinton aide. Her husband, Anthony Weiner, was under investigation for inappropriate communications with a minor on that device. It was later determined that the two shared it, but the letter is one that Democrats assign blame to Comey, saying he cost Clinton the election. Weiner pled guilty to a federal obscenity charge, sentenced to 21 months in jail, and he’ll be registered as a sex offender.
The fireworks on this McCabe/Comey/FBI show is set begin today.
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