FBI’s McCabe Abruptly Quits, and House Committee Republicans Vote to Release Controversial Memo
Turmoil at FBI. Andrew McCabe stepped down as the FBI’s deputy director after months of withering criticism from Trump, telling friends he felt pressure from the head of the bureau to leave.
McCabe’s retirement had been widely expected, but his departure was sudden. As recently as last week, McCabe had told people he hoped to stay until he was eligible to retire in several weeks. Instead, he will immediately go on leave and retire on March 18.
A forthcoming inspector general report is expected to be highly critical of some FBI actions in 2016 when the bureau was investigating Hillary Clinton’s email use and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. The report is expected to address whether McCabe should have recused himself from the Clinton investigation because of his wife’s failed State Senate campaign in Virginia where she accepted nearly a half-million dollars in contributions from the political organization of Terry McAuliffe, then the governor of Virginia, who is a longtime friend of the Clintons.
FBI Director Christopher Wray had suggested moving McCabe into another job which would have been a demotion. McCabe chose to leave, telling FBI employees he was leaving with “sadness.” Trump has taunted McCabe on Twitter for months. The White House said Trump had nothing to do with McCabe’s exit.
Memo. The House Intelligence Committee voted to release a memo detailing alleged surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department, escalating a political fight between conservatives and the nation’s intelligence agencies.
The vote, which proceeded along party lines in the Republican-controlled committee, means Trump now has up to five days to review the material and decide whether to keep it secret. If he does nothing, the committee can release the memo publicly.
The Intelligence Committee also voted along party lines against releasing a rebuttal memo from the panel’s Democrats.
The GOP memo has become a flashpoint in the political battle surrounding efforts to understand the scope of Russian meddling and whether any of Trump’s associates coordinated with the Kremlin. Republicans say the document shows that the investigation may be tainted by political bias.
Democrats call it a cynical attempt to undercut the work of special counsel Robert Mueller and the law enforcement agencies behind him.
Russian oligarchs. The U.S. has released a list of prominent Russian business and political figures as part of a law designed to punish Russia for election meddling. The U.S. Treasury list includes members of the top political administration at the Kremlin and nearly every Russian oligarch with a net worth of $1 billion or more. Some of those named are already subject to U.S. sanctions, but the Trump administration stopped short of imposing further measures, saying the legislation was already doing its job.