General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAbrahamson thread this morning
Learning a lot here in conjunction with McCabe interview last night.
Link to tweet
Va Lefty
(6,252 posts)Qutzupalotl
(14,230 posts)(THREAD) What can we learn from CBS's interview with lifelong Republican and former FBI Acting Director Andy McCabe? A lot. In this thread I break down some of the major revelationsincluding a few I suspect you won't find elsewhere. I hope you'll read on and consider retweeting.
1/ Working from interviews with Jim Comey and Inspector General Horowitz's first report on Comeythe second is still forthcomingI've written extensively about how a faction of rogue FBI agents in the NYC field office threatened illegal leaks until Comey reopened Clinton's case.
2/ I've written of how these rogue agents (a) used former Trump attorneyand current attorney for multiple Trump aidesJoe DiGenova to illegally leak to the media and threaten Comey via media, and (b) used Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani likewise to leak to media and threaten Comey.
3/ I've written of how these rogue agents, in conjunction with rogue NYPD officersincluding, it appears, the man running the Weiner investigation, who donated to Trump's campaign in October 2016leaked false info and/or coordinated false leaks with top Trump adviser Erik Prince.
4/ The question has always been how much Trump knew of what his advisers Giuliani, Prince, and DiGenova were doing to make contact with rogue FBI and NYPD officials, facilitate their illegal pre-election leaks to media, and use those leaks and a threat of more to blackmail Comey.
5/ This was critical because those illegal leaks were, per IG Horowitz, a major consideration in Comey reopening Clinton's casea decision that, per polling data, gave Trump the presidential election. If Trump knew of these crimes, he was part of a conspiracy that made him POTUS.
6/ In the first minute of CBS's interview, McCabe reveals that Trump *was aware* of a bloc of FBI agents who'd been secretly working against Comeywe now know, by illegally leaking false information about the Clinton case to the media through Trump advisersand said so to McCabe.
7/ "I heard that you were part of the Resistance," President Trump said to Acting FBI Director Andy McCabe. Trump went on to explain that he knew of a bloc of FBI agents who "did not support Jim Comey...[who] didn't agree with him, and the decisions he made in the Clinton case."
8/ America doesn't have to wonder how a GOP presidential candidate would "hear" about the *internal politics* of the FBI. I have linked repeatedly to articles and videos and interviews confirming DiGenova, Giuliani, and Prince were in touch with both Trump and these rogue agents.
9/ Comey has said he wants more than anything to protect the FBI's reputation. In pursuit of that goal, he has made a significant error: downplaying the significance of illegal FBI leaks to media to protect the FBI's reputation. Fortunately, the IG report set the record straight.
10/ Not only were the illegal FBI leaks to media about the Clinton case in October 2016 a major part of the Bureau's reasoning in reopening the Clinton caseas multiple agents told the IGbut *Trump himself is now tweeting daily* about how serious illegal FBI leaks to media are.
11/ Indeed, Trump, conservative commentators, and GOP Congressman are now calling for *massive investigations and criminal prosecutions* of FBI agents (in their view, including McCabe) who illegally leaked to media. Yet *that's exactly what Trump conspired to do in October 2016*.
12/ Eventually, McCabe was fired the day before his retirement by the chair of Trump's pre-election National Security Advisory Committee, AG Sessionsa major witness in the Russia caseand the result is that McCabe does not have the same delicate view of the FBI that Comey does.
13/ That McCabea former Acting FBI Directoris willing to talk implicitly the "Resistance" in the FBI in a way Comey wouldn't, even if obliquely, is a major feature of his CBS interview. Particularly important is what McCabe says about the fears he had one Comey had been fired.
14/ McCabe told CBS that, after Comey's firing, he ordered two investigations of the president (as we now know, both a criminal and a counterintelligence investigation, each focused on Trump's relationship with Russia) for a very clear reason. Here is what McCabe said to CBS:
15/ "I was very concerned," McCabe says, "that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid groundin indelible fashion[so] that were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace." Those words matter.
16/ I've written extensively about how a far-right organization's FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch) led to the revelation of emails between McCabe and Comey right before Comey was pressured to reopen the Clinton case in which McCabe and Comey discussed rogue agents leaking case info.
17/ From those emails, it's clear that Andy McCabe (a) knew there were rogue pro-Trump agents in the FBI's NYC field office, (b) knew that those agents were illegally leaking to media, and (c) knew those leaks were putting pressure on the Bureau with respect to the Clinton case.
18/ But we now know something else: that when McCabe went into the Oval Office with all thoseeminently reasonable and indeed wholly accuratefears, the President of the United States *immediately* made reference to there being a "Resistance" within the FBI that Trump knew about.
19/ So when McCabe talks about being worried that open FBI investigations might suddenly be "closed or vanish in the night without a trace," understand that he is *speaking of the pro-Trump "Resistance" in the FBI*. He obviously knows Trump himself can't close FBI investigations.
20/ Therefore, Trump's knowledge of a Resistance in the FBI is a significant area of criminal inquiry that Trump, Prince, DiGenova, and Giuliani must all be asked about. While illegal FBI leaks to media are Hatch Act violations, they're even more dire when they swing an election.
21/ We also learn via McCabe's interview that Trump tried to recruit Rosenstein into a *Russia-related obstruction conspiracy* by asking his Deputy AG to *fraudulently* put in a memo recommending Comey's firing "Russia" as a reason. Rosenstein knew this implicated him in a crime.
22/ It is shocking to learn that *within 24 hours* of Trump's firing of the FBI Director, it was the belief of the nation's Deputy AG that Trump had followed up on that actwhich the FBI believed was evidence of obstructionwith a solicitation for the DAG to *enter a conspiracy*.
23/ McCabe's interviewand his summary of Rosenstein's words the day after Comey was firedunderscores that Obstruction of Justice can indeed be seen by law enforcement as a *collusive crime* whose commission raises *counterintelligence* fears about a person's loyalty to America.
24/ To the extent "collusion" means anything outside antitrust law, we can say that a crime is "collusive" in its character if its commission raises counterintelligence fears that someone is wittingly acting as a foreign agent. McCabe is saying the FBI and DAG *feared collusion*.
25/ Side note: I recommend the video below, in which Trump transition team member and Trump adviser Devin Nunes admits that "good FBI agents" in the NYC field office who he considered "whistleblowers" came to GOP members of Congress in September 2016.
26/ Nunes refers to the same Resistance inin the FBI Trump did. Note: future Trump attorney DiGenova spoke to media about helping FBI "whistleblowers" get to Congress. Giuliani has described the Resistance as a sort of coup, ironic given Trump's allegations against the FBI now.
27/ It now seems self-apparent that Trump, Nunes, and others are alleging a "coup" within the FBI precisely *because* they're well aware that they participated in a "coup" within the FBI in October '16 that gave Trump the White House. Always accuse your enemies of what *you* did.
triron
(21,916 posts)Media goes along willingly. Hopefully they are waking up. Rachel has been awake for some time.
cilla4progress
(24,589 posts)He's still going!
I can't always stick with his long threads, but this one feels like it's getting very close to the bone.
Safe to call these disclosures HISTORIC!
malaise
(267,838 posts)Yep
Rec
2naSalit
(86,071 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)pecosbob
(7,511 posts)Trump's going to get his come-uppance sooner or later, but I want to see Giuliani, DiGenova, Nunes and those f*cks from the FBI in jail. I knew it was a set-up the moment I heard it. Been waiting for years to see these people prosecuted.
ScratchCat
(1,957 posts)5/ This was critical because those illegal leaks were, per IG Horowitz, a major consideration in Comey reopening Clinton's casea decision that, per polling data, gave Trump the presidential election. If Trump knew of these crimes, he was part of a conspiracy that made him POTUS.
No, the leaks themselves were not a consideration in re-opening the investigation. It was the fact that if he did not publicly announce the investigation being "re-opened", the leakers would have leaked it anyway which would have looked like Comey was "hiding" something, even though he wasn't supposed to be publicly talking about the Clinton case in the first place. This is making it sound like Comey wasn't even going to "re-open" the case, but he had to due to "leaks". That's not what happened. He announced the existence of the investigation itself because of the leaks.
renate
(13,776 posts)I understand he'd be loyal to other members of the FBI, but during his book tour a while back, why didn't he explain why his hand was forced? Or, more usefully, why didn't he blow the whistle on them at the time?
I have pretty complicated feelings re James Comey.
cilla4progress
(24,589 posts)Same here.
Just a bit too "strategic."
As was PBO, in my opinion. I understand why he wanted Mitch to join with him in busting this open in the fall of '16, but I wish he would have had the cojones to do it by himself, if need be.
I expect in retrospect he does, too.
blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)Will they be prosecuted at the end of all this mess?