McCabe Firing Was NOT Political

Despite mainstream media narrative, Andrew McCabe wasn’t fired for political reasons — here’s the truth

Mar 17, 2018 7:11 pm

The mainstream media narrative surrounding Andrew McCabe's firing is that it was a political decision to appease President Trump, but that couldn't be further from the truth. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Chris EnloeWEEKEND EDITOR

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Despite the mainstream media narrative surrounding Andrew McCabe’s Friday termination, the now-former deputy FBI director wasn’t fired for political reasons.

Instead, it was an internal Department of Justice investigation lead by inspector general Michael Horowitz that led to McCabe’s dismissal.

What does the narrative say?

In the immediate aftermath of Attorney General Jeff Session’s decision to dismiss McCabe, the media has propagated the narrative that McCabe’s termination was a political decision made to appease President Donald Trump.

On Saturday, the media was full of stories that pushed the angle that McCabe’s firing was political and Trump is to blame. Indeed, those whose comments were most widely shared and reported by the media blamed Trump and framed the story as another move by the White House to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough tweeted: “Everything goes back to Trump obstructing justice and undermining the investigation into his shameful behavior. Now he’s pressured the Attorney General of the United States to fire a 24 year FBI veteran…”

The comments of former CIA Director John Brennan were some of the most shared. He claimed Trump used McCabe as a “scapegoat.”

Eric Holder, attorney general under former President Barack Obama, levied similar claimed to those made by Brennan and Scarborough.

CNN’s Chris Cillizaa added to the hysteria:

Despite all of the claims and hysteria centering on Trump and his disdain for Mueller’s investigation, the truth of why McCabe was fired just days before his planned retirement has nothing at all to do with the president.

What’s the truth?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe upon a recommendation from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility to terminate McCabe’s employment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the OPR made the recommendation based on findings from IG Horowitz’s investigation, who discovered McCabe “authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the investigation into the Clinton Foundation.”

McCabe later lied about authorizing the leak during questioning from IG investigators.

The Washington Post further explained:

[Horowitz] has for some time been working on a report that blasts McCabe for allowing two high-ranking bureau officials to sit down with the Wall Street Journal as the news outlet prepared a report in 2016 on an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s family foundation, then misleading the inspector general’s team about his actions. A person familiar with the matter said Horowitz’s findings are what sparked the Office of Professional Responsibility’s recommendation, which was first reported by the New York Times. Horowitz’s report has not been released, and McCabe denies having misled anyone, a person familiar with the case said.