By Florida Bill Andrew "Andy" McCabe of the FBI had it all going for him. His horse in the big 2016 race was Hillary Clinton and she was the odds-on-favorite to become the nation's 45th President, the first woman to hold that office.
McCabe, an attorney, was in solid with Clinton and he believed that he might even be in line to become Director of the FBI, the world's most elite crime fighters, or even become a member of her cabinet. Nothing was ruled out by McCabe, a 20-year veteran of the agency.
But then, it all went up in flames. Mrs. Clinton lost the election and McCabe's tumble began. It culminated this month, some 16 months later, with his being fired from the FBI for dishonesty and misconduct, on the findings and recommendations of coworkers in the agency's internal affairs division.
Traditionally, the FBI is down the middle and stays out of the political fray. Nevertheless, McCabe took the risk and got active in assisting Clinton. For sure, he hoped it would be President Trump who would be singing the blues, but then life has its twists and turns.
For some 16 months prior to the 2016 November election, the FBI was engaged in a criminal investigation into the handling of classified emails by Mrs. Clinton while she had served as Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013. FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, McCabe, supervised the probe. Comey announced 90 days before balloting that Mrs. Clinton had broken laws, but would not be prosecuted since she lacked criminal intent. His exculpation of Mrs. Clinton seemed to be greasing the way for her victory. But then, to a nation's surprise, Trump was elected, and Hillary tucked tail and exited the political stage---at least for now.
Comey's "get out of jail free card" for Mrs. Clinton was suspiciously out of line, and it became the basis for Inspector General Michael Horowitz to announce on January 12, nine days before Trump was sworn in as President, that he would review the conduct of Comey and the FBI in conducting the Clinton investigation. If laws were broken by anyone, Horowitz asserted at a news conference, he would recommend prosecution to the Attorney General.
McCabe really was returning a favor to Mrs. Clinton who had reached out in 2015 to help his wife, Jill. In that year, his pediatrician wife received a donation of $700,000 for her campaign seeking election as a state senator in Virginia. The donation was generous; extraordinary, in fact. Normally, a gift of nearly three quarters of a million is reserved for candidates running for president, U.S. senator and governor.
The funds for Dr. McCabe came from allies of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe who is a close personal friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. McAuliffe served as a chairman of the former president's successful campaign. McCabe knew that McAuliffe's largess and connections were no accident and that the Clintons had lent their influence.
McCabe's antipathy for Trump was known among subordinate agents. Among those agents were Peter Strzok and Peter's in house sweetheart, Lisa Page. The two exchanged thousands of emails and their contempt for Trump who they called an "idiot" and a loathsome human" being, was no secret. They also made reference to conferences in "Andy's" office to implement plans to take down Trump should he win the election.
In October, a couple of months before the election, McCabe supervised a petition filed before the secret FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court seeking a warrant which would enable the FBI to eavesdrop on a member of Trump's inner circle. As probable cause to spy upon an American citizen, attorneys provided the judge with an "unverified and salacious" dossier as evidence that Trump the candidate was a miscreant who whored about Russia and constituted a threat to the USA. The dossier had been generated and paid for by the Democratic National Committee, and the Clinton campaign, but the FISA judge was never apprised of the source and credibility of the evidence.
Four months after his swearing in as President, Trump fired FBI Director Comey and then in March 2018, 10 months later, McCabe was discharged on orders from Attorney General Jeff Sessions. About 10 days after President Trump fired Comey, embittered Democrats pushed for and achieved the appointment of a special investigator, Robert Mueller, Comey's close personal friend, to investigate President Trump for "colluding" with Russians in a scheme to defeat Mrs. Clinton. That investigation is continuing, though the House Intelligence committee has declared that there is no evidence to support a charge of collusion against President Trump.
Trump detractors are now alleging that President's firing of Comey constituted "obstruction of Justice." That allegation is a fantasy since the president had the constitutional authority and an abundance of reasons to fire Comey, who he has said was incompetent and had dishonored his oath of office by conducting a "sham" investigation of Mrs. Clinton and her emails.
Inspector General Horowitz reportedly has completed his investigation into the conduct of Director Comey and will issue a written report sometime in April of 2018. His report is also expected to detail the misconduct of McCabe and the full basis for his termination.
McCabe has complained that his discharge was malicious and he is attempting to blame President Trump who has publicly criticized him. His complaint appears to be specious in that the evidence which revealed the misconduct of McCabe was assembled, not by President Trump, but by fellow agents at the FBI.
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