Donald Trump returned to the attack against Andrew McCabe on Monday, in response to an interview in which the former deputy FBI director discussed his new book and made claims damaging to the president.
In the interview, broadcast by CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday night, McCabe addressed, among other matters:
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How the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein was told by Trump to write a memo justifying the firing of FBI director James Comey in May 2017
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How, following the firing of Comey, McCabe ordered investigations of whether it was done to impede the investigation of Russian election interference and whether Trump was acting on behalf of the Russian government
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How he believes that is why he himself was fired
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Discussions about whether Trump could be removed from office under the 25th amendment
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Discussions about whether Rosenstein should wear a wire to record the president
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How Trump ignored US intelligence advice on North Korea’s nuclear capability and said: “I don’t care. I believe Putin”
Trump attacked McCabe on Twitter on Thursday, when CBS released excerpts of the interview, and again on Sunday night, when it was broadcast in full. Before dawn on the President’s Day holiday, he returned to the offensive.
“Wow,” the president tweeted. “So many lies by now disgraced acting FBI director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by [former attorney general] Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.
“There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous ‘insurance policy’ in full action!”
Trump’s reference to an “insurance policy” was to a text message sent by Peter Strzok, an FBI agent, to a bureau lawyer, Lisa Page, about the Russia investigation and Trump’s chances of winning the White House.
On CBS, McCabe said Rosenstein brought up the possibility of removing Trump using the 25th amendment, which allows the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet to deem a president unfit to perform his duties.
“It was an unbelievably stressful time,” he said. “I can’t even describe for you how many things must have been coursing through the deputy attorney general’s mind at that point. So it was really something that he kinda threw out in a very frenzied chaotic conversation.”
The deputy attorney general also offered to wear a wire to record conversations with Trump, McCabe said.
“He said, ‘I never get searched when I go into the White House. I could easily wear a recording device. They wouldn’t know it was there.’ Now, he was not joking. He was absolutely serious.”
On Thursday, the Department of Justice said in a statement Rosenstein rejected McCabe’s version…
