Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is said to be in negotiations with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley for immunity ahead of his testimony on the upcoming DOJ Inspector General report on the FBI’s conduct during the Clinton email probe.
“Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has quietly requested that several former officials appear in front of the Judiciary Committee to discuss the long-awaited internal Justice Department report, which sources say will detail a series of missteps surrounding the Justice Department and FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information while secretary of state,” reports CNN.
McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, insisted that “Under the terms of such a grant of use immunity, no testimony or other information provided by Mr. McCabe could be used against him in a criminal case,” adding “Mr. McCabe is willing to testify, but because of the criminal referral, he must be afforded suitable legal protection.”
“This is a textbook case for granting use immunity… If this Committee is unwilling or unable to obtain such an order, then Mr. McCabe will have no choice but to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.” -Michael Bromwich
As we reported Friday, federal investigators from the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office recently interviewed former FBI director James Comey as part of an ongoing probe into whether McCabe broke the law when he lied to federal agents, reports the Washington Post.
Investigators from the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office recently interviewed former FBI director James B. Comey as part of a probe into whether his deputy, Andrew McCabe, broke the law by lying to federal agents — an indication the office is seriously considering whether McCabe should be charged with a crime, a person familiar with the matter said. –Washington Post
Of particular interest is that Comey and McCabe have given conflicting reports over the events leading up to McCabe’s firing, with Comey calling his former deputy a liar in an April appearance on The View.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued a criminal referral for McCabe following a months-long probe which found that the former acting FBI Director leaked a self-serving story to the press and then lied about it under oath. McCabe was fired on March 16 after Horowitz found that he “had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.”
Specifically, McCabe was fired for lying about authorizing an F.B.I. spokesman and attorney to tell Devlin Barrett of the Wall St. Journal – just days before the 2016 election, that the FBI had not put the brakes on a separate investigation into the Clinton Foundation, at a time in which McCabe was coming under fire for his wife taking a $467,500 campaign contribution from Clinton proxy pal, Terry McAuliffe.
During an April appearance on ABC’s The View to peddle his new book, A Higher Royalty Loyalty, where he called McCabe a liar, and said he actually “ordered the [IG] report” which found McCabe guilty of leaking to the press and then lying under oath about it, several times.
Comey was asked by host Megan McCain how he thought the public was supposed to have “confidence” in the FBI amid revelations that McCabe lied about the leak.
“It’s not okay. The McCabe case illustrates what an organization committed to the truth looks like,” Comey said.
“I ordered that investigation.”
Comey then appeared to try and frame McCabe as a “good person” despite all the lying.
“Good people lie. I think I’m a good person, where I have lied,” Comey said.
“I still believe Andrew McCabe is a good person but the inspector general found he lied,” noting that there are “severe consequences” within the DOJ for doing so.
Full letter from McCabe’s lawyers to Senator Grassley…
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