Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe tells 60 Minutes about taking over for James Comey, starting investigations of President Trump, interactions with the president and his own firing
A handful of new mind blowing revelations and some old ones that McCabe confirms #NationalSecurity #NationalEmergency
The most damning evidence Trump is a #RussianAsset — Trump REFUSED to believe U.S. Intelligence telling him North Korea HAS intercontinental missiles that could strike the United States. Putin told Trump they didn’t. #TrumpRussia #PutinsPuppet #EnemyWithin
Trump told U.S. Intel: "I don't care. I believe Putin."
tl;dr Go watch the 28 minute interview
Background
Andrew McCabe is a lifelong Republican who had a sterling 21-year career at the FBI; serving as head of counter-terrorism and number two under Comey. *** Mueller has all of McCabe’s memos 🔥
Rod Rosenstein has spent 28 years at the Department of Justice. A Republican, he was appointed by President Trump as deputy attorney general, number two at the department.
Trump wanted Rosenstein to specify the reason for Comey’s firing was the Russia Investigation — Rosenstein refused 🇺🇸
Andrew McCabe: Rod was concerned by his interactions with the president, who seemed to be very focused on firing the director and saying things like, "Make sure you put Russia in your memo." That concerned Rod in the same way that it concerned me and the FBI investigators on the Russia case.
If Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein listed the Russia investigation in his memo to the White House, it could look like he was obstructing the Russia probe by suggesting Comey's firing. And by implication, it would give the president cover.
Scott Pelley: He didn't wanna put Russia in his memo.
Andrew McCabe: He did not. He explained to the president that he did not need Russia in his memo. And the president responded, "I understand that, I am asking you to put Russia in the memo anyway."
When the memo justifying Comey's firing was made public, Russia was not in it. But, Mr. Trump made the connection anyway, telling NBC, then, Russian diplomats that the Russian investigation was among the reasons he fired Comey.
Trump wanted McCabe to adopt his version of firing Comey. McCabe didn’t 🇺🇸
Andrew McCabe: People were shocked. We had lost our leader, a leader who was respected and liked by the vast majority of FBI employees. People were very sad. But anyway, that night in the Oval Office what I was hearing from the president was, not reality. It was the version of the events that I quickly realized he wished me to adopt. As he went on talking about how happy people in the FBI were, he said to me, "I heard that you were part of the resistance."
Scott Pelley: What did he mean by that?
Andrew McCabe: Well I didn't know. And so I asked him. And he said, "I heard that you were one of the people that did not support Jim Comey. You didn't agree with him and the decisions that he'd made in the Clinton case. And is that true?" And I said, "No sir. That's not true. I worked very closely with Jim Comey. I was a part of that team and a part of those decisions."
Scott Pelley: You had the sense you'd given him the wrong answer.
Andrew McCabe: I knew I'd given him the wrong answer.
Scott Pelley: You weren't trying to hang onto this job.
Andrew McCabe: I wasn't willing to lie to keep it. I didn't know when I'd be out of the job. I thought it would probably be pretty soon. And so I just put my head down and got to work trying to stabilize the people around me and do the things that I felt we needed to do with the Russia investigation, getting cases opened and getting a special counsel appointed.
McCabe opened 2 investigations into Trump-Russia
Scott Pelley: How long was it after that that you decided to start the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations involving the president?
Andrew McCabe: I think the next day, I met with the team investigating the Russia cases. And I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward. I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.
Scott Pelley: You wanted a documentary record—
Andrew McCabe: That's right—
Scott Pelley: —That those investigations had begun because you feared that they would be made to go away.
Andrew McCabe: That's exactly right.
Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire into the White House
Andrew McCabe: ... We talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the Russia investigation and did that impact his decision. And in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the White House. 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. And in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had. I never actually considered taking him up on the offer. I did discuss it with my general counsel and my leadership team back at the FBI after he brought it up the first time.
Trump: "I don't care. I believe Putin." rather than U.S. Intelligence who stated that North Korea had missiles that could strike the continental U.S.
Andrew McCabe: The president— launched into— several unrelated diatribes. One of those was commenting on the recent missile launches by the government of North Korea. And, essentially, the president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin had told him that the North Koreans don't actually have those missiles.
Scott Pelley: And U.S. intelligence was telling the president what?
Andrew McCabe: Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses, to which the president replied, "I don't care. I believe Putin."
Scott Pelley: What did you think when you heard that?
Andrew McCabe: It's just an astounding thing to say. To spend the time and effort and energy that we all do in the intelligence community to produce products that will help decision makers and the ultimate decision maker, the President of the United States— make policy decisions, and to be confronted with an absolute disbelief in those efforts and a unwillingness to learn the true state of affairs that he has to deal with every day was just shocking.
The “disgusting” way Trump treated Jill McCabe 😠...
Watch additional unaired videos
Andrew McCabe's "bizarre" job interview with President Trump
Rosenstein wanted advice from Comey after Comey had been fired
Trump was mad that Comey was allowed to fly home on the FBI plane after being fired
Trump allows the FIRST Russians into the Oval Office.
Sergey Kislyak is a key player of #RussiaGate.