Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe revealed in a "60 Minutes" interview that he green lit an obstruction of justice investigation against President Trump in 2017. The decision came shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, but it had been the agency's plan for months. As McCabe explained, they were concerned that Trump may have won the presidential election with the help of the Russian government. McCabe also reportedly sat in on meetings in which the topic of discussion was if they could remove Trump from office via the 25th amendment.
Trump and his allies were outraged at the news. Yet, McCabe said in a follow up interview with NBC's "TODAY" that no one in the Gang of Eight objected to the investigation. The Gang of Eight was a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Richard Burr, and Mark Warner from the Senate Intelligence Committee, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan, then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Reps. Devin Nunes and Adam Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee.
Did you tell the “Gang of Eight” that you had opened a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump? @savannahguthrie asks Andrew McCabe pic.twitter.com/w4cKwAvvF9
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 19, 2019
"No one objected," McCabe recalled. "Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts."
No matter. The president is still fuming. He was up late mocking McCabe on Twitter again Monday night, before again sounding off the Russia probe "witch hunt."
Remember this, Andrew McCabe didn’t go to the bathroom without the approval of Leakin’ James Comey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019
Trump's critics are beginning to challenge McCabe's narrative too. When she had the chance to directly confront him on "The View," Meghan McCain took her shot.
“I don’t believe you’re a reliable narrator,” McCain said. “And I’m not convinced this isn’t just some kind of PR campaign to stop yourself from getting indicted.
She also demanded he prove that he did not leak information to the New York Times. Here was his explanation:
.@MeghanMcCain to former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe: "Were you ever a leaker to the 'The New York Times'?"
— The View (@TheView) February 19, 2019
McCabe: "Absolutely not — not in any time ever." https://t.co/f8u2wc159S pic.twitter.com/imX5FD2su7
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Not at any time ever. You should understand, Meghan, when I was serving as deputy director, I was one of two people in the FBI that had the authority to disclose information to the media. That is an FBI policy, it’s baked into the way that we run media relations in the organization. So I transacted on issues regarding the media every single day.”
As for why Comey denied that he approved McCabe giving information to the press, McCabe said it's "understandable" the former FBI director doesn't remember all their conversations because he was under enormous pressure at the time.