McCabe memos show how disgraced FBI leader kept Trump-Russia collusion hoax alive in 2017

Newly-declassified memos written by disgraced FBI official Andrew McCabe shine new light on how he kept the Trump-Russia collusion hoax investigation alive during a critical period in the first half of 2017 before he got it handed off to a special counsel.

The eight memos penned by McCabe, most of which had never been released until earlier this month, span his discussions and meetings (including with President Donald Trump) held from January 24, 2017 to May 21, 2017 — a critical time period ranging from just before the FBI sprung an interview on retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn to just after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. The memos were more fully declassified through efforts by Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month.

McCabe was a stalwart ally of since-fired FBI Director James Comey, coordinated closely with since-fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok on the launch and the conduct of the flawed and politicized Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and relied heavily upon disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page as his close confidante.

Pushed the Steele dossier

McCabe and Comey had pushed in December 2016 to include British ex-spy Christopher Steele's debunked dossier in the body of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on alleged Russian meddling, but they were thwarted by the NSA and CIA. The dossier was eventually included in an annex to the assessment.

By early 2017, McCabe and the FBI knew that the Steele dossier was baseless. The FBI had offered Steele an “incentive” in October 2016 of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations in his discredited anti-Trump dossier, but the former MI6 agent was unable to back up his claims. An FBI spreadsheet from December 2016 showed nothing of any substance from the dossier could be verified. The FBI had unearthed nothing derogatory on Flynn. And an early 2017 interview of Steele’s main source — Igor Danchenko — undercut the dossier’s collusion claims.

Yet despite the huge setbacks for Crossfire Hurricane, McCabe’s newly-declassified memos show how McCabe facilitated the FBI’s targeting of Flynn, met with Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about the Flynn allegations, refused to publicly shoot down false media stories on collusion, opened a collusion investigation into Trump himself after Comey was fired, kept the Trump-Russia investigation alive and escalated it as the acting FBI director, helped successfully push for a special counsel to take the reins, and more.

McCabe did not respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his LinkedIn.

January 24, 2017 — Mike Flynn’s call with McCabe

McCabe created his first memo related to a discussion he had with Flynn just before he was interviewed by FBI agents on January 24, 2017. Versions of the memo were previously released with various redactions in 2019 and 2020, but the version released this month has the fewest redactions yet.

The FBI had been plotting how to potentially prosecute Flynn related to his December 2016 call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including potentially under the Logan Act.

McCabe said that “I told LTG Flynn that I had a sensitive matter to discuss. I explained that in light of the significant media coverage and public discussion about his recent contacts with Russian representatives, that Director Comey and I felt that we needed to have two of our agents sit down with the General and hear from him the details of those conversations. LTG Flynn asked if I was referring to his contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the United States, and indicated that I was.”

McCabe said in his memo that Flynn explained that he had been trying to "build relationships" with the Russians, and that he had calls in which he "exchanged condolences." McCabe said Flynn then stated that McCabe probably knew what was said in these calls because "you listen to everything they say."

McCabe said of his talk with Flynn that “I reiterated that in light of everything that has been said about these contacts, the important thing now was for us to hear directly from him what he said and how he felt about the conversations.”

Comey later admitted in 2018 that he took advantage of the chaos in the early days of Trump’s administration when he sent FBI special agents Peter Strzok and Joseph Pientka to talk to Flynn.

“I sent them,” Comey said to MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, prompting laughter in the audience. “Something I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in … a more organized administration. In the George W. Bush administration, for example, or the Obama administration.”

“In both of those administrations, there was process, and so, if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official, you would work through the White House counsel, and there’d be discussions and approvals and who would be there, and I thought, it’s early enough — let’s just send a couple guys over,” Comey added.

Strzok overjoyed that Flynn case not closed

 The Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case in May 2020 stated that Strzok learned in early January 2017 that the Flynn case had not been closed despite the lack of evidence for keeping it open, and relayed the “serendipitously good” news to McCabe's special assistant Lisa Page, with whom Strzok was having an affair. Strzok remarked that “our utter incompetence actually helps us.” Strzok then instructed FBI agents to “keep it open for now” at the behest of “the 7th Floor” of the bureau.

The DOJ said that “the FBI kept open its counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn based solely on his calls with Kislyak — the only new information to arise since the FBI’s determination to close the case.” McCabe did not tell Flynn that he was being interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation targeting the Trump campaign.

McCabe said in his memo that “LTG Flynn questioned how so much information had been made public and asked if we thought it had been leaked” and “I replied that we were quite concerned about what we perceived as significant leaks and that we were in the process of completing a referral to the Department of Justice requesting authority to initiate a leak investigation.” McCabe said that “I further indicated that these cases were hard to prove but that we thought the significance of this situation demanded a thorough review.”

The leaks begin

Flynn’s communications with Ambassador Kislyak were leaked to the media in early 2017. Republicans have alleged since 2017 that Obama-era officials improperly unmasked associates of then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign during the Russia collusion investigation. Democrats defended the intelligence-gathering process.

A Washington Post column in mid-January 2017 contained classified details that set off a media frenzy. Citing a “senior U.S. government official,” it said Flynn and Kislyak spoke on the phone in December 2016, the day former President Barack Obama announced actions against Russia, and suggested Flynn had violated the archaic Logan Act. A follow-up article by the Washington Post in early February 2017 revealed classified details from Flynn’s monitored calls with Kislyak, citing “nine current and former officials” in “senior positions at multiple agencies.”

John Bash, ​​the U.S. attorney tasked in 2020 with investigating the “unmasking” scandal, concluded that Flynn’s name had not even been hidden to begin with when the FBI shared information across the Obama administration.

The leakers of the Flynn calls were never found.

McCabe said in his memo that he told Flynn that it would not be a good idea for Flynn to have a lawyer present when he was questioned by the FBI that afternoon.

“I explained to LTG Flynn that my desire was to have two of my agents interview him as quickly, quietly, and discretely as possible. He agreed and offered to meet with the agents today,” McCabe wrote. “I explained that I thought the quickest way to get this done was to have a conversation between him and the agents only. I further stated that if LTG Flynn wished to include anyone else in the meeting, like the White House Counsel for instance, that  would need to involve the Department of Justice. He stated that this would not be necessary and agreed to meet with the agents without any additional participants.”

William Barnett, the FBI agent who handled Flynn’s case in 2016 and 2017, called the Trump-Russia investigation “Collusion Clue” and argued many investigators were out to “get Trump.”

Top FBI officials had discussed the possibility of prosecuting Flynn for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians as agents planned how to conduct their January 2017 interview of the Trump national security adviser, bureau notes show.

“I agreed yesterday that we shouldn’t show Flynn [REDACTED] if he didn’t admit” but “I thought about it last night and I believe we should rethink this,” Bill Priestap, the FBI’s head of counterintelligence, wrote in January 2017. “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

Obama White House kept tabs on Flynn

An email that Obama national security adviser Susan Rice sent herself detailing an early January 2017 Oval Office meeting was declassified in 2020, revealing just how focused the outgoing Obama administration was on Flynn.

“Director Comey affirmed that he is processing ‘by the book’ as it relates to law enforcement. From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian ambassador Kislyak. Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information,” Rice wrote.

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told Mueller’s team that she first learned the FBI possessed and was investigating recordings of Flynn’s conversations following an early January 2017 national security meeting at the White House, and that it was Obama — not Comey — who told her about it.

Obama “started by saying that he had ‘learned of the information about Flynn’ and his conversation with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak,” Yates said, according to FBI notes. “Obama specified he did not want any additional information on the matter but was seeking information on whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently.”

Yates told investigators that “at that point,” she “had no idea what the President was talking about.” She “recalled Comey mentioning the Logan Act” but could not remember if Comey specifically said there was an “investigation.”

Handwritten notes by Strzok released by the Justice Department in 2020 seem to quote then-Vice President Joe Biden directly raising the “Logan Act” related to Flynn, according to an apparent conversation Strzok had with Comey after an early January 2017 White House meeting. Strzok wrote that Comey said the Flynn-Kislyak calls “appear legit.” Obama emphasized that “the right people” should look into Flynn.

The task fell to Comey, McCabe, and Strzok.

The Flynn-Kislyak call and the FBI interview

The transcript of the call between Flynn and Kislyak — which occurred on December 29, 2016 — was declassified in 2020.

One transcript portion stated: “Flynn wants to convey the following [to Moscow]: Do not allow this [Obama] administration to box us in right now! Kislyak says they have conveyed it very clearly.”

“So, depending on what actions they take over this current issue of cyber stuff, where they are looking like they are going to dismiss some number of Russians out of the country. I understand all that and I understand that the information that they have and all that. But I ask Russia to do is to not, if anything, I know you have to have some sort of action, to only make it reciprocal; don't go any further than you have to because I don't want us to get into something that have to escalate to tit-for-tat. Do you follow me?” the transcript says Flynn said, with the transcript adding that “Kislyak says he understands what Flynn is saying, but Flynn might appreciate the sentiments that are raging now in Moscow.”

The transcript stated that Flynn said that “I really do not want us to get into the situation where we everybody goes back and forth and everybody had to be a tough guy here. We don't need that right now. We need cool heads to prevail. And we need to be very steady about what we are going to do because we have absolutely a common threat in the Middle East.”

“Kislyak agrees. Now when FSB and GRU are sanctioned and Kislyak asks himself, does it mean that the U.S. is not willing to work on terrorist threats, Kislyak poses a question. Flynn says, yes. Kislyak says he heard Flynn and he will try people in Moscow to understand. Flynn repeats asking to reciprocate moderately,” the transcript stated.

The transcript added that Flynn also said, “Let's keep this at even-kill level; then when we come in, we will have a better conversation where we are going to go regarding our relationship.”

The FBI’s notes of the interview of Flynn by Strzok and Pientka on January 24, 2017 were also released in a further declassified form this month. The interview occurred just a few hours after McCabe’s call with Flynn.

The FBI notes state: “FLYNN expanded that he had no particular affinity for Russia, but that KISLYAK was his counterpart, and maintaining trusted relationships within foreign governments is important.”

The notes state that “the interviewing agents asked FLYNN if he recalled any conversation with KISLYAK surrounding the expulsion of Russian diplomats or the closing of Russian properties in response to Russian hacking activities surrounding the election. FLYNN stated that he did not.”

The FBI notes also state that “the interviewing agents asked FLYNN if he recalled any conversation with KISLYAK in which the expulsions were discussed, where FLYNN might have encouraged KISLYAK not to escalate the situation, to keep the Russian response reciprocal,” or not to engage in a “tit-for-tat.” The FBI notes say that Flynn responded, “Not really. I don’t remember. It wasn’t ‘Don’t do anything.’”

Strzok was a key player throughout the FBI’s deeply flawed Crossfire Hurricane investigation — including writing the opening communication that launched the inquiry.

Pientka had conducted the FBI’s first counterintelligence briefing of then-candidate Trump in August 2016 at its New York field office — and the briefing had been used as a “pretext” to gather evidence on him and Flynn, according to 2019 testimony from DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz.

“They sent a supervisory agent to the briefing from the Crossfire Hurricane team, and that agent prepared a report to the file of the briefing about what Mr. Trump and Mr. Flynn said,” Horowitz testified. “So the agent was actually doing the briefing but also using it for the purpose of investigation.”

It was Strzok who signed off on Pientka’s summary of that pretextual briefing.

The interview by Strzok and Pientka with Flynn in January 2017 would soon be leveraged by McCabe and the FBI to facilitate the firing of Flynn — and to underpin a prosecution.

Trump DOJ later points out flaws with FBI’s Flynn interview

The Trump Justice Department later pointed out significant problems with how McCabe and the rest of the FBI leadership had handled the Flynn affair.

“FBI Director Comey took the position that the FBI would not notify the incoming Trump administration of the Flynn-Kislyak communications. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and other senior DOJ officials took the contrary view and believed that the incoming administration should be notified,” the DOJ said in 2020. “Deputy Attorney General Yates and another senior DOJ official became ‘frustrated’ when Director Comey’s justifications for withholding the information from the Trump administration repeatedly ‘morphed,’ vacillating from the potential compromise of a ‘counterintelligence’ investigation to the protection of a purported ‘criminal’ investigation.”

The DOJ said in 2020 that the morning of January 24, 2017 — right around when McCabe held his call with Flynn — Yates contacted Comey “to demand that the FBI notify the White House of the communications” but that “Comey did not initially return her call” — and when Comey called Yates back later that day, Comey “advised her that the FBI agents were already on their way to the White House to interview Mr. Flynn.” Yates said she was “flabbergasted” and “dumbfounded” while other senior DOJ officials “hit the roof” upon hearing of this development, given that “an interview of Flynn should have been coordinated with DOJ.”

But the machinations by McCabe and Comey ensured the FBI interview of Flynn happened the way they wanted.

Strzok and Pientka “didn’t show him the transcripts” of his calls when interviewing Flynn, the DOJ said, “nor did the agents give, at any point, warnings that making false statements would be a crime.”

And the DOJ said that “after the interview, the FBI agents expressed uncertainty as to whether Mr. Flynn had lied.” The DOJ wrote that Strzok and Pientka “had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.” And even Comey had his doubts about whether Flynn had even lied, saying, “I don’t know. I think there is an argument to be made he lied. It is a close one.”

“With its counterintelligence investigation no longer justifiably predicated, the communications between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak — the FBI’s sole basis for resurrecting the investigation on January 4, 2017 — did not warrant either continuing that existing counterintelligence investigation or opening a new criminal investigation,” the Trump DOJ determined in 2020. “The calls were entirely appropriate on their face. Mr. Flynn has never disputed that the calls were made. Indeed, Mr. Flynn, as the former Director of Defense Intelligence Agency, would have readily expected that the FBI had known of the calls — and told FBI Deputy Director McCabe as much.”

The Trump DOJ added: “The Government does not believe it could prove that Mr. Flynn knowingly and willfully made a false statement beyond a reasonable doubt. … The Government is not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn’s statements were material even if untrue.”

Yet the FBI interview with Flynn would help end his brief tenure as national security adviser, and would result in his prosecution.

January 31, 2017 — McCabe talks to Bannon in the West Wing

McCabe wrote another memo about a meeting in the West Wing, accompanied by FBI official Bill Priestap, with then-White House official Steve Bannon on January 31, 2017.

The McCabe memo stated that “the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a piece of intelligence regarding Eugene Chin Yu, who claimed to be under consideration by Mr. Bannon for a position as Special Envoy to North Korea or the United States Ambassador to South Korea.” But the meeting soon led to a discussion about Trump and Comey.

“Mr. Bannon requested that he be given an opportunity to speak to me privately, and Mr. Priestap left the room. Mr. Bannon then mentioned that President Trump told him that he had a positive experience dining with Director Comey last Friday night and he inquired about whether the Director mentioned it to me,” McCabe wrote. “I replied that Director Comey was also very positive about their engagement. Mr. Bannon stated that he thought it was important to put the two men together to find out if Director Comey wished to stay in his position and whether President Trump wanted to retain him.”

McCabe later told Mueller’s team in September 2017 that he had essentially lied to Bannon, with the FBI’s notes of its interview with McCabe stating that “McCabe knew Comey did not have a good time, but answered that way in order to ‘move the issue off the table.’”

“Mr. Bannon explained that President Trump wished to be very supportive of law enforcement and to the FBI specifically Mr. Bannon was eager to identify opportunities for President Trump to visit the FBI, or to participate in FBI events, in an effort to publicly support the organization,” McCabe’s memo of the conversation stated. “Mr. Bannon pointed to the President's recent speech at CIA headquarters as an example. He said President Trump would probably be quite interested in seeing the FBI Training Academy at Quantico, Virginia, and possibly could participate in a New Agent's graduation. I told Mr. Bannon that I appreciated his and the President's interest and indicated that I would discuss the matter with Director Comey.”

McCabe would later undercut efforts by Trump to pay a visit to the FBI, and McCabe would also soon exacerbate the tensions between Flynn and then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Flynn, Pence, and the Kislyak call

Obama had announced on December 29, 2016 that “I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election.”

“I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners,” Obama said. “I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.”

Obama also said that “the State Department is also shutting down two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes, and is declaring ‘persona non grata’ 35 Russian intelligence operatives.”

Then-Vice President Mike Pence had told CBS News on January 15, 2017 that “I talked to General Flynn about that conversation [with Kislyak]... It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”

“It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn later told the Daily Caller in February 2017 about his call with Kislyak. “So that’s what it turned out to be. It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.”

But Flynn signed a guilty plea in November 2017 after being targeted by the Mueller investigation. The Mueller team contended that “FLYNN's false statements and omissions impeded and otherwise had a material impact on the FBI's ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and Russia's efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.”

Flynn’s legal team moved to withdraw Flynn’s guilty plea in January 2020, declaring their client was “innocent” and pointing to “the government’s bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement.”

Flynn’s lawyers told the court in the summer of 2020 that they believed the declassified information was exculpatory evidence "demonstrating (i) his innocence; (ii) the absence of any crime; (iii) government misconduct in the investigation of General Flynn; and (iv) prosecutorial misconduct in the suppression of evidence favorable to the defense."

February 10, 2017 — McCabe meets with Pence about Flynn controversy

McCabe penned an additional memo about a counterintelligence briefing that he and Priestap gave at the Office of the Vice President on February 10, 2017 — just three days before Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser at the behest of Pence. The memo shows that it was McCabe who showed Pence and other White House officials the Flynn-Kislyak transcript, and that McCabe discussed the Logan Act with Pence and others.

McCabe wrote that “I went to the White House to provide a basic CI [counterintelligence] defensive brief to the staff members of the Office of the Vice President” and that, after leaving the briefing and preparing to head back to FBI quarters, a yet-redacted FBI special agent “informed me that the White House Counsel's office had been trying to reach me. Before leaving the White House grounds, I contacted the Sit Room. They informed me that White House Counsel Donald McGahn requested that I meet him in the West Wing to discuss an urgent matter in person.”

McCabe first went to McGahn’s office and then went to Pence’s office in the West Wing, where he met with Pence, McGahn, White House counsel’s office lawyer James Burnham, Pence chief of staff Josh Pitcock, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

“After entering the office, Mr. Priebus informed me that he wanted to review ‘the transcripts.’ I understood he was referring to the transcripts of the telephone conversations between National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak that were recently revealed in an article in the Washington Post,” McCabe wrote. “He mentioned that he knew the FBI previously allowed John Eisenberg, Legal Advisor to the National Security Staff, to review the transcripts. I indicated to Mr. Priebus and the others that I could have Bill Priestap retrieve the transcripts from FBI HQ so that they could review them. The Vice President asked me to dispatch Bill Priestap so that they could review the materials as soon as possible.”

McCabe said that he left the room to call Priestap and to direct him to retrieve the transcripts, and that he also spoke with FBI general counsel James Baker, who “agreed that the review was permissible.”

McCabe said he returned to the office and “I received several questions from Mr. Priebus about how the transcripts could have leaked to the media, and whether or not the FBI was investigating the leak. I replied that we did not know how information about the transcripts had been leaked but that we had submitted a referral to the Department of Justice requesting authorization to begin a media leak investigation. I explained that the investigations would include recent and previous revelations in the Washington Post and other news outlets.”

Leakers not caught

McCabe also wrote in his memo that “Pence asked if I had read the transcripts and I indicated that I had. He then asked if the articles were correct. I first stated that I could not confirm whether the reporter had access to the transcripts or if they had merely spoken to someone who had such access. I then stated that I thought the article in the Post accurately reflected the substance of the transcripts. The Vice President asked, 'Did they talk about the sanctions?' I understood him to be asking whether Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak discussed the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia at the end of December 2016. I indicated that they did discuss the sanctions in those conversations.”

The memo by McCabe stated that “the Vice President indicated that he needed to discuss the matter with his staff, so I left the room to wait for Mr. Priestap to return with the transcripts.”

Once the transcripts were retrieved by Priestap, McCabe wrote that “I provided the Vice President with transcripts of telephone calls captured on 12/23/2016, 12/29/2016 and 12/31/2016. All three calls were between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak.” McCabe said that “I brought the Vice President's attention to the call on 12/29/2016” — the call McCabe knew the FBI had grilled Flynn on the month prior.

“While reading the first two pages he commented that several items were consistent with what Mr. Flynn previously informed him had been discussed on the call. He requested that Mr. Pitcock get him a transcript of his comments to CBS news and one was produced. He also asked when the Obama administration announced the sanctions against Russia and someone confirmed that the sanctions were made public on 12/29/2016,” McCabe said of Pence. “Upon reading the portion of the transcript that detailed Mr. Flynn's comments about the sanctions, the Vice President appeared frustrated and noted that Mr. Flynn initiated the discussion on that topic. The Vice President and the others compared Mr. Flynn's statements in the transcripts with the Vice President's comments to CBS News, and discussed what Mr. Flynn had told the Vice President about his conversations.”

McCabe wrote that Priebus, McGahn, Burnham, and Pitcock also reviewed some of the transcripts.

“Mr. Priebus asked me questions about whether or not the discussions related in the transcripts could constitute a violation of the Logan Act. I replied that he would need to ask the Department of Justice whether or not the calls constituted a violation of the act,” McCabe wrote. “I further stated that I was not aware of any prior prosecutions of Logan Act violations. Mr. Priebus asked if previous administrations had similar contacts with foreign representatives prior to taking office officially. I indicated that although I could not speak authoritatively about the actions of previous administrations, I thought it was possible that considerations like that could have been why the act had not been charged in the past.”

McCabe knew quite well that the FBI had indeed considered investigating and potentially prosecuting Flynn under the Logan Act.

“The FBI had in their possession transcripts of the relevant calls,” the Trump DOJ wrote in May 2020 when seeking to throw out the Flynn prosecution. “Believing that the counterintelligence investigation of Mr. Flynn was to be closed, FBI leadership determined to continue its investigation of Mr. Flynn on the basis of these calls, and considered opening a new criminal investigation based solely on a potential violation of the Logan Act.”

McCabe’s memo concluded by saying that “the Vice President finished reading the transcripts and thanked us for providing them.”

Flynn was pushed to resign just a few days after McCabe’s meeting in the West Wing with Pence.

February 15, 2017 — McCabe refuses to shoot down ‘false’ NYT story on Trump & Russia

McCabe’s memos also detailed a meeting with Priebus at the White House on February 15, 2017 — now just a few days after Flynn’s ouster — where McCabe refused to publicly shoot down a New York Times article on alleged Trump-Russia collusion, even though McCabe acknowledged it was “false.” McCabe also advised Priebus that Trump should not shoot the story down either. McCabe was again accompanied to this meeting by Priestap, and the meeting again began as a defensive briefing which devolved into a discussion about Russia.

“I went to the White House for a meeting with Chief of Staff to the President Reince Priebus. FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Bill Priestap accompanied me. We were met by William Evanina, who is an FBI agent currently on detail to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the Director of the National Counterintelligence Security Center. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a counterintelligence defensive briefing to Mr. Priebus,” McCabe wrote. “We convened in Mr. Priebus' office on the second floor of the West Wing. Joining us were White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs Ezra Cohen, and one of Mr. Priebus' briefers from the President's Daily Briefing Staff. Over the course of about 25 minutes, Mr. Priestap provided the briefing and Mr. Evanina contributed details about cyber espionage and other counterintelligence topics.”

McCabe wrote that “the briefing concluded when Mr. Priebus indicated he had another meeting to attend. I asked Mr. Priebus if he had a moment to discuss a sensitive matter privately. He said he did and the other individuals left the room. I informed Mr. Priebus that the article that appeared in the New York Times this morning which purported to detail FBI efforts to investigate contacts between Russian intelligence officers and several individuals associated with the Trump campaign was largely inaccurate. … I further stated that I was aware of only two White House employees who were in contact with the Russian government: Michael Flynn and Hope Hicks. I reminded him that we discussed the substance of Mr. Flynn's contacts on Friday, 02/10/2017. I further stated that the FBI's assessment was that Hope Hicks' contacts were innocuous, within the scope of her duties, and that we had already provided her with a defensive briefing.”

The article contended that “American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee... The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.”

The McCabe memo said that “Priebus seemed surprised by my comments and indicated that he also thought the article was false. He indicated that the administration was frustrated by having to spend so much time and effort refuting press stories that the White House perceived to be false. Mr. Priebus asked if the FBI would publicly state that the article was false. I told him that we did not do that sort of thing because when we corrected inaccurate news accounts we might inadvertently telegraph to our adversaries our capabilities and our operational activity. He asked if he could share what I told him with others in the White House, including the President. I told him he could share it with whoever he felt he needed to, as long as they did not share it publicly.”

Priebus asked, "What if I told the President and he inadvertently tweeted it?" McCabe wrote that “I told him that would not be a good thing. He continued to press me to consider how the FBI could issue some sort of statement to address this issue. I told him that I would discuss the matter with Director Comey and then get back to him.”

Just the News reported earlier this month that former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers told FBI agents that the crux of another Pulitzer Prize award-winning Washington Post story on the Russia collusion hoax was “wrong.”

May 9, 2017 — McCabe meets with Sessions and Trump the day Comey is fired

McCabe wrote another memo detailing his meetings with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then with President Trump on May 9, 2017 — shortly after the news leaked that Trump had fired Comey that day. McCabe would quickly be put in charge of the bureau.

“I was pulled out of a meeting and informed that Attorney General Sessions wanted to speak to me in his office at Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters. … I waited about 10 minutes and was then brought back into the AG's private office,” McCabe wrote. “Present in the office were the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein and the DAG's Chief of Staff, Jim Crowell. The AG immediately informed me that the President had fired FBI Director James Comey and that I was now the Acting Director of the FBI.”

McCabe wrote: “The AG did not specifically explain the reasons for Director Comey's termination. He did explain that the FBI was an outstanding institution and that his desire was to ensure that it continued to perform in an exemplary manner. I assured him that I would do everything necessary to make sure that we continued to pursue our mission.” McCabe said he was instructed by Sessions not to talk about it.

“I returned to my office after meeting with the Attorney General at the Department of Justice. My staff informed me the White House called to request that I come over to meet President Trump,” McCabe wrote. “I have never met, or interacted with, the President in any way before this.”

The memo stated that “I entered the Oval Office and introduced myself to the President, who was sitting behind his desk. Also present was Vice President Michael Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Counsel Donald McGahn, and one additional male individual who I presumed was also with the White House Counsel's office.”

“President Trump informed me that the Director Comey [sic] had been fired and he asked me to serve as Acting Director. The President stated that the Director ‘had to go’ because of the decisions he made last summer and for many other reasons,” McCabe wrote. “The President asked if I knew that the Director told him three times that he was not under investigation. I told him that I was aware of that, but at the forefront of my mind was the termination letter the President had just sent Director Comey. (At that moment I knew that Director Comey had told the President that he was not under investigation, but  could not remember exactly how many times that had occurred.)”

McCabe said Trump asked if he was “a part of ‘the resistance’ that disagreed with Director Comey's decisions last summer on the Hillary Clinton email investigation” and McCabe “explained that I worked very closely with Director Comey and that I was a part of all those decisions.”

The memo stated: “The President said that he had great hopes for me, thought I would do a good job, and said I would be considered for the permanent position. He said my only negative issue was the ‘mistake’ about my wife's run for office. I understood he was referring to my wife Dr. Jill McCabe's run for a Virginia State Senate seat in 2015. He told me that he said many tough things about my wife in his campaign speeches, and I replied that we heard what he said.”

McCabe ended his memo by saying that Trump “wished me well, and I assured him I would continue to lead the FBI in the best way possible.” Unbeknownst to Trump, McCabe would soon use Comey’s firing as justification to open an obstruction of justice investigation against the president, to make it explicit that the FBI was investigating Trump personally over false claims of collusion, and to generate the appointment of a special counsel.

Comey’s firing spurs McCabe into action

Comey was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. Trump told Comey in a letter: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”

McCabe would later tell the Mueller team in September 2017 that the day Comey was fired, Comey told McCabe: “It’s all on you now. Don’t screw it up.” McCabe began to make big moves to preserve and escalate the Trump-Russia investigation.

“After Comey’s termination and McCabe’s conversations with Trump, he felt it was highly likely that he would be sent ‘elsewhere’ in the FBI and began to think ‘very defensively’ about the FBI investigations,” FBI notes of McCabe’s interview with the Mueller team said. “McCabe wanted to solidify the investigations to ensure they would continue even if McCabe was gone. Comey’s termination convinced McCabe that a special counsel was necessary. McCabe also wanted to inform Congress of the FBI’s open investigations and to open any other investigations for which they had predication in order to ‘draw an indelible line’ around their work.”

When Comey was fired, “McCabe became convinced he had to set the investigations on a course to move forward if he himself was fired,” the notes state.

The FBI said that “McCabe and others met several times after the termination to discuss whether there was predication to open an obstruction investigation on Trump… McCabe first wanted the team to look at the four or more open Russia investigations at the time and to decide if there were others that should be opened."

McCabe told the Mueller team that he and others talked about “the fact that, by investigating the Trump campaign, they were, by definition, ‘sort of’ investigating Trump. As such, they wondered whether it would be accurate to tell Trump he was not under investigation.”

“The termination [of Comey] caused them to focus on whether to take the next step and open a case on Trump himself and whether it was necessary, given the existing investigation into the campaign,” the FBI notes state. “McCabe’s intention was to make sure cases that needed to be opened were opened and in doing so ensure the investigations had a ‘clear, un-erasable footprint’ in case he was fired the next day.”

The FBI notes state that McCabe “had discussions” with FBI general counsel Jim Baker “regarding whether there was sufficient predication to open an investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia and for obstruction of justice for terminating Comey. After their discussions, they decided to open an obstruction investigation.”

McCabe said that “what changed” his “calculus” on opening the obstruction investigation into Trump was Trump’s interview with Lester Holt, “when Trump said that he was thinking about Russia when he fired Comey." McCabe also said that “the timing of the opening of the investigation right after Comey’s termination was ‘concerning’ but the facts lined up to support it.”

May 10, 2017 — McCabe meets Trump again and quietly undercuts FBI visit

McCabe penned another memo detailing his phone call and then Oval Office meeting with Trump on May 10, 2017. McCabe revealed that while to Trump’s face he said the president was welcome to visit the FBI, behind the scenes he worked to undercut the Trump visit — which did not end up happening.

“I received a call from the President on my unclassified office line… The purpose of the call (which we got to about half way through the call) was to ask if I thought the President should come to FBI headquarters to make a speech to our employees,” McCabe wrote. “I told him he was welcome to visit FBI headquarters any time he wanted. He asked me to come to the White House later in the day to discuss the possibility of his visit.”

McCabe also said that on the call “the President again asked if he knew that Director Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation. I told him I was aware of that.” The memo said that “the President closed the call by saying that he thought I would do a good job and that he had a lot of faith in me.”

McCabe said he went to the West Wing that afternoon.

“The President began by commenting that it had been a great decision to fire Director Comey because so many people hated him. He told me that many people were saying how much they did not like Director Comey, and that they were saying this to the White House and to the media. He asked if  had seen that and I indicated that I had not,” McCabe wrote. “He stated, almost in the form of a leading question, that there was great dislike for Director Comey in the FBI, and asked if I thought people were glad he was gone. I said that  there were some folks who were frustrated last summer with the outcome of the Clinton email investigation, and I offered that it was possible that some of them might now be glad the Director had been fired. I suggested this as a possible explanation for what the President claimed to have perceived, but I had no personal evidence of people being happy about the Director's departure.”

The memo then said Trump “stated that he wanted to come to the FBI to see people and excite them and show them how much he loves the FBI. He asked if I thought he should come over for a visit and  told him that he should come to the FBI whenever he wanted, and that he was always welcome. He pressed me to answer whether I thought it was a good idea for him to come and I said it was always a good idea to visit his people at the FBI. He pressed further by asking specifically if I thought he should come over now, which I understood to mean in the near future. I said, ‘Sure.’”

Trump then asked McGahn if he should visit the FBI, and McGahn said, "If the Acting Director of the FBI is telling you he thinks it is a good idea for you to visit the FBI, then you should do it." 

“The President looked at me and asked if that was what I was saying, did I think it was a good idea? I said yes,” McCabe wrote. “At the time I felt that the President and his staff wanted to schedule a visit, but that they wanted it to be at my invitation. I had great concerns about how the President would be received by the people at FBI Headquarters in light of the still raw emotions surrounding the Director's firing the day before. But in light of the insistence of his questions, and the President's prerogative to visit any Executive Branch entity, I thought it would not be appropriate to tell him not to come.”

The memo said that “the conversation then turned to logistics around the President's visit” and that they agreed Trump would visit in two days. “The President asked me to have my staff work with his to coordinate a joint message. He said that he wanted me to promote the visit internally as much as I could. I offered that a speech in the courtyard would hold the largest crowd, and he asked that we make sure it was filled. We shook hands and I was dismissed,” McCabe wrote.

McCabe later told the Mueller team in September 2017 that he took steps to undercut Trump’s desire to visit the FBI.

“McCabe did not tell Trump it was a bad idea to come ‘because he’s the President of the United States’ and had ‘just fired my boss’ the day before, and McCabe did not want to argue with him on the first day of his tenure as acting Director,” the FBI notes state. “McCabe’s chief of staff, Troy Sowers, had been discussing logistics with the White House and told McCabe the next morning the White House was wavering on whether to have Trump come visit. McCabe told Sowers to capitalize on their wavering and encourage the White House to cancel the visit.”

The visit then never happened, and McCabe got back to having the FBI investigate the president.

May 12, 2017 — McCabe meets with Sessions and Rosenstein

Another memo by McCabe stated that he met with Sessions and Rosenstein at the DOJ command center for a meeting on the President’s Daily briefing materials on May 12, 2017 — and soon spent the day pushing Rosenstein to name a special counsel to lead the baseless collusion inquiry.

Rosenstein and McCabe held a private conversation, and “the DAG [Rosenstein] began discussing recent developments related to the firing of Director Comey, and became visibly emotional and upset. He indicated that he had been ordered by the President to write the memo justifying the firing. However, he stated that he did not know his memo would be publicly released and used to justify the Director's termination.”

The memo said that “the DAG stated that he had been thinking about appointing a Special Counsel to oversee the investigation but that he was concerned that such a designation would lead to his termination. The DAG feared what would happen to the Department and the investigation if he were also fired. The DAG asked for my thoughts on whether or not we needed a Special Counsel and  indicated that I thought it would help to preserve the credibility of the investigation. He remarked that he wished he could talk to Director Comey about the situation.”

McCabe said that he returned to the DOJ again later that day to meet with Rosenstein once more: “I told the DAG that I recognized the decision to designate a Special Counsel was entirely his, but that  thought he deserved to hear my best formed thoughts on the issue, which I had not had the chance to do earlier in the morning I explained that felt strongly that the investigation would be best served by having a Special Counsel. …  I told him that the possibility that we might someday close the investigation without charging anyone only heightened the need to have a completely impartial, highly credible, independent Special Counsel announcing that result.”

McCabe also seemed to prey on Rosenstein’s fear of public criticism, writing that “I pointed out that DOJ and the FBI were likely to take withering criticism from the Hill and others until the decision was made, and that we stood to lose credibility as those attacks wore on.”

McCabe said Rosenstein “indicated that he had not yet made the decision to appoint a Special Counsel. He believed doing so might cause him to get fired and he was worried about what the Department would do without a confirmed DAG, especially in light of the AG's recusal on the Russia issue. In addition, he wanted to remain actively involved in the selection of the next Director of the FBI.”

The memo said that “the DAG indicated that he would continue to consider the appointment of a Special Counsel, but he did not believe that he needed to do it quickly.”

McCabe also said that, at the invitation of Sessions later that day, he met with Sessions and Rosenstein to interview for the full time FBI director position on May 13, 2017. And McCabe said that Rosenstein called him the day after that and, “using coded language, he asked me that if I had the opportunity to speak to Director Comey, he would be very interested to hear what the Director thought about the Special Counsel issue. I told him I would consider it.”

McCabe said that “I convened a conference call with [FBI general counsel] James Baker, [Comey chief of staff] James Rybicki, and Lisa Page to discuss whether or not I should seek Director Comey's opinion on the special counsel issue. We all concluded that I should not.”

The FBI deputy director recounted these May 12 meetings with Mueller’s team in September 2017, with FBI notes stating that “Rosenstein mentioned possibly appointing a special counsel in this meeting but expressed concern about being fired for appointing one. Rosenstein asked for McCabe’s thoughts and McCabe said he thought it would be helpful.”

The FBI notes add that “McCabe believed a follow up meeting would be a good opportunity for him to plant the seed for Rosenstein to ‘think productively’ about getting a special counsel appointed. McCabe feared it would cost Rosenstein his job, but decided it would be worth it for the sake of the investigations. … When McCabe and Rosenstein met again…he encouraged Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel to bolster the investigation.”

Comey had already set his plan in motion to get a special counsel picked.

The Comey memos

Comey began memorializing his conversations with Trump after their first one-on-one meeting in early January 2017 at Trump Tower in New York City, where Comey told Trump about some of the salacious claims in the debunked Steele dossier.

Comey created seven memos in all, spanning from January 7, 2017, to April 11, 2017.

DOJ inspector general Horowitz released a separate 2019 report focused on Comey’s mishandling of the memos he made about conversations he had with Trump in early 2017, harshly criticizing Comey’s decision to remove those memos from the FBI after he was fired and to provide some contents to a friend to leak to the media. Comey testified to Congress in 2017 that he hoped leaking this information “might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”

“Comey had several other lawful options available to him to advocate for the appointment of a special counsel, which he told us was his goal in making the disclosure,” Horowitz wrote. “What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

Two days after Comey’s firing, The New York Times published an article titled “In a Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty. Comey Demurred” — and it described information contained in Comey’s second memo related to a January 27, 2017 one-on-one dinner between Comey and Trump at the White House. That article was allegedly based on two sources, including Comey’s friend and attorney, Daniel Richman. This article was the basis of Trump’s “tapes” tweet the next day, on May 12, 2017.

Comey claimed to Horowitz’s investigators that on May 16, 2017 he awoke in the middle of the night as if “struck by a lightning bolt” after realizing that if Trump had tapes of their conversations, then Comey’s version of events could be corroborated. Comey said he realized he could “actually do something” to make sure Trump didn’t destroy the alleged tapes and to ensure the tapes made their way to the Justice Department and to the public. That “something” was the leaking of information from his fourth memo to “change the game” and create “extraordinary pressure on the leadership” at the Justice Department, who Comey said he didn’t have faith in, to “appoint someone who the country can trust to go and get those tapes.”

Comey told Richman “to share the content of this memo, but not the memo itself” with the New York Times, resulting in an article published that day titled, “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation.”

Rosenstein would then cave and appoint Mueller as special counsel the next day, on May 17, 2017.

Comey wrote that “I don’t do sneaky things” and “I don’t leak” in his memos, even as he was quietly taking notes on private conversations — which he then leaked to his friend to leak to the media to get a special counsel.

May 16, 2017 — Rosenstein suggests wearing a wire

McCabe met with Rosenstein again at the DOJ on May 16, 2017 — and his memo recounted that he announced that the FBI was formally investigating Trump over evidence-free claims of collusion and for the firing of Comey, while Rosenstein later suggested wearing a wire to the White House to secretly record Trump. McCabe also continued pushing Rosenstein to name a special counsel. A memo penned by Lisa Page — who was present at the meeting too — echoed the McCabe memo claims.

This particular McCabe memo was first partially declassified and released in 2019 thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch.

“I began by telling him that today I approved the opening of an investigation of President Donald Trump. I explained that the purpose of the investigation was to investigate allegations of possible collusion between the president and the Russian Government, possible obstruction of justice related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and possible conspiracy to obstruct justice,” the McCabe memo stated. “The DAG questioned what I meant by collusion and I explained that I was referring to the investigation of any potential links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. I explained that counterintelligence investigations of this sort were meant to uncover any the existence of any threat to national security as well as whether or not criminal conduct had occurred.”

McCabe continued: “Regarding the obstruction issues, I made clear that our predication was based not only on the president's comments last week to reporter Lester Holt (that he connected the firing of the director to the FBI's Russia investigation), but also on the several concerning comments the president made to Director Comey over the last few months. These comments included the President's requests for assurances of loyalty, statements about the Russia investigation, and the investigation of General Michael Flynn. I also informed the DAG that Director Comey preserved his recollection of these interactions in a series of contemporaneously drafted memos.”

And McCabe also “informed the DAG that as a result of his role in the matter, I thought he would be a witness in the case.”

Lisa Page wrote that Rosenstein said “getting a good FBI Director nominated was his most important priority” and that “he frequently shifted between recounting conversations he had had with possible nominees, while at the same time referring to some of the same individuals as the possible Special Counsel over the Russia investigation.” Her memo said that Rosenstein “explained that Mueller had called and said he would do it” and that “it appeared that this was a reference to the Special Counsel job.”

The "Gang of Eight"

Her memo stated that it was at some point during Rosenstein’s description of Comey’s firing that McCabe “informed the room that the FBI had decided to open an investigation against the President, as well as AG Sessions” and “also informed the group that the FBI had made arrangements to brief the Gang of 8 the following evening.” Rosenstein allegedly said he wanted to attend that congressional briefing, “which launched a conversation in which several of us implored the DAG that he should make the announcement of his intention to appoint a Special Counsel before he attended the Gang of 8 briefing.”

McCabe wrote that “we discussed the issue of appointing a Special Counsel to oversee the FBI's Russia investigation” and that “the DAG said he has two candidates ready, one of whom could start immediately.” His memo said that Rosenstein “indicated” that he “had made the decision to appoint a Counsel last week” but was “thrown off” by Comey’s firing.

“The DAG said that he left a copy of the delegation with Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana Boente to execute in the DAG's absence if the DAG were suddenly removed from his position,” McCabe wrote. “However, the DAG indicated he now intended to wait a few days before selecting a Special Counsel so he could remain actively involved in providing input regarding the selection of the new Director of the FBI.”

Rosenstein allegedly lamented the role he had played in drafting a letter that Trump cited to justify Comey’s firing, and McCabe said that “as our conversation continued the DAG proposed that he could potentially wear a recording device into the Oval Office to collect additional evidence on the President's true intentions. He said he thought this might be possible because he was not searched when he entered the White House. I told him that I would discuss the opportunity with my investigative team and get back to him.”

Lisa Page wrote that “near the end of the meeting” Rosenstein said that McCabe had an upcoming interview with Trump about the full-time FBI director gig — “which had not been scheduled and for which Mr. McCabe had no awareness.” Rosenstein said Trump had “inexplicably” yelled “do you think this is a real interview?!" in reference to interviewing McCabe to be the permanent FBI chief, her memo stated, and Lisa Page wrote that it was at that point that Rosenstein “suggested that he and Mr. McCabe should wear a wire to record the conversation.”

McCabe’s memo also stated that “we discussed the President's capacity and the possibility that he could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment The DAG indicated that he looked into the issue and determined he would need a majority, or eight of fifteen cabinet officials and that he might already have two supporters in the AG [Sessions] and Secretary of Homeland Security General John Kelly.”

Rosenstein named Mueller as special counsel the next day, kicking off a renewed investigation that would last another two years but which ultimately “did not establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion.

McCabe later spoke to the Mueller team about the May 16 meetings in September 2017.

The FBI notes state that McCabe told Rosenstein that he was launching “an investigation of Trump for obstruction and collusion” and that McCabe and Rosenstein “discussed whether the investigations” into “collusion” and “obstruction” would be “perceived as revenge.”

McCabe told the FBI that Rosenstein was unhappy about taking the blame for Comey’s firing and told McCabe he wasn’t searched when visiting the White House, offering that McCabe could “wire him up.” The FBI notes state that Rosenstein said he “could engage Trump in a recorded conversation to capture Trump’s true intentions in firing Comey,” according to McCabe, who says he told Rosenstein that “he would talk to his team and think about it.”

Rosenstein denies McCabe’s claims — and critiques McCabe

The New York Times published a September 2018 story titled “Rod Rosenstein Suggested Secretly Recording Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment” echoing the McCabe memo claims, and Rosenstein denied it.

“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” Rosenstein told the outlet at the time. “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

A Justice Department spokesperson reportedly “also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Mr. Rosenstein made it sarcastically.”

Rosenstein told the Senate in 2020 that “I did not suggest or hint at secretly recording President Trump. I have never in any way suggested that the president should be removed from office under the 25th Amendment.”

Rosenstein also criticized McCabe’s candor during the former Trump deputy attorney general’s Senate testimony.

“I believed, senator, that Mr. McCabe was not fully candid with me, he certainly wasn’t forthcoming,” Rosenstein said. “In particular, senator, with regard to Mr. Comey’s memoranda of his interviews with the president and with regard to the FBI’s suspicions about the president, Mr. McCabe did not reveal those to me for at least a week after he became acting director, despite the fact that we had repeated conversations focusing on this investigation.”

McCabe released a statement in the midst of Rosenstein’s 2020 testimony.

“Mr. Rosenstein’s claims to have been misled by me, or anyone from the FBI, regarding our concerns about President Trump and the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia are completely false. Mr. Rosenstein approved of, and suggested ways to enhance, our investigation of the President,” McCabe said at the time. “Further, I personally briefed Mr. Rosenstein on Jim Comey’s memos describing his interactions with the President mere days after Mr. Rosenstein wrote the memo firing Jim Comey. Mr. Rosenstein’s testimony is completely at odds with the factual record. It looks to be yet another sad attempt by the President and his men to rewrite the history of their actions in 2017. They have found in Mr. Rosenstein — then and now — a willing accessory in that effort.”

Rosenstein replied during the Senate hearing that “I did not say that Mr. McCabe misled me … What I said was he did not reveal the Comey memos to me for a week, and that is true. And he revealed them to me only a couple of hours before they showed up in the New York Times. And he did not reveal to me that he was having internal deliberations with his team about whether to target very high profile people for investigation. And his position is that he did not have to do that until after he’d signed off on it. And that may be true under the rules that were written at the time, but my view, senator, was that’s the kind of thing that I needed to know.”

May 21, 2017 — McCabe meets with Mueller and refuses suggestion to recuse

McCabe wrote a final memo about a phone call he had with Rosenstein and then about a meeting he had with Rosenstein, Mueller, and others on May 21, 2017 — where Rosenstein suggested that McCabe should recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, McCabe refused to do so, and Mueller declined to get involved.

The memo said that Rosenstein called McCabe to ask “if I could meet him and Special Counsel (SC) Robert Mueller," and they agreed to meet the next day.

McCabe said the meeting was in Rosenstein’s office with Rosenstein, Mueller, Mueller prosecutor Aaron Zebley, and FBI executive assistant director Carl Ghattas (who attended at McCabe’s request).

“The DAG opened the meeting by thanking me for the work I was doing, and stating that he continued to support my staying in the position of Acting FBI Director. I assumed he meant until the permanent Director is selected. He then stated that he had the highest regard for my integrity,” McCabe wrote, before saying that Rosenstein “stated that he did not believe I had a conflicts with the Russia investigation. Despite this, he then stated that he thought I should consider recusing myself from the investigation. He said he was not ordering me to recuse, but merely suggesting that I consider it in order to ensure the credibility of the investigation. He then stated that in the past I have maintained that I did not play a role in my wife Dr. Jill McCabe's 2015 run for Virginia State senate, but noted that there was a photograph on the internet of us wearing campaign t-shirts. He stated that this potential ‘credibility issue’ could cause some people to complain about my involvement in the investigation.”

McCabe said that “I offered to explain the entire matter to the SC.” Mueller reportedly said that “he did not want to be briefed on the matter” and that “he thought the issue might be beyond the scope of his authority as SC.” McCabe said Mueller also “stated that he would not weigh in on the recusal issue, but he wanted to let me know that he thought  would likely be a witness in the investigation.”

The memo added that “I told the DAG that I did not believe he was in a position to order me, or anyone, to recuse from the Russia investigation, in light of his appointment of the Special Counsel. He repeated that he was not ordering me to recuse, but was rather suggesting that I consider it. I told him I would discuss it with FBI counsel and get back to him at a later date.”

McCabe never resigned from the investigation, and McCabe would go on to sign the June 2017 FISA renewal targeting Carter Page, though he later told Congress he would not have done so if he knew in 2017 what he knew in 2020.

But after the release of the 2018 Horowitz report — which concluded “the evidence is substantial” that McCabe misled investigators “knowingly and intentionally” — then-Attorney General Sessions fired McCabe in March 2018 just before he was set to retire. McCabe denied wrongdoing and sued the DOJ in 2019, claiming his firing was brought on due to pressure from then-President Trump.

Horowitz’s report in 2018 had detailed multiple instances in which McCabe “lacked candor” with Comey, FBI investigators, and inspector general investigators about his authorization to leak sensitive information to The Wall Street Journal that revealed the existence of an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

The Trump-era DOJ decided in early 2020 not to prosecute McCabe over his alleged dishonesty, and McCabe’s lawyers declared that “justice has been done.”

Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said in 2021 that the DOJ continued to stand by the findings by Horowitz — despite Garland reversing McCabe’s firing and settling his lawsuit against the DOJ with a payout. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, lamented to Garland in 2021 that “you allowed a disgraced former FBI official off the hook.”

McCabe denied wrongdoing, but Horowitz said he stood by his findings.

McCabe defends Trump-Russia investigation — and trashes Durham

DOJ Inspector General Horowitz’s December 2019 report found huge flaws with the FBI’s investigation, including criticizing the “central and essential” role of a dossier in the FBI’s politicized surveillance of former Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

McCabe claimed to the Senate in November 2020 that he was “shocked and disappointed” by the “errors and mistakes” in the FBI’s FISA applications against Carter Page. He told the Senate that he would not have signed the June 2017 FISA renewal against Carter Page if he knew back then what he knew a few years later.

But he had struck a different tone when he was interviewed for HBO’s Agents of Chaos — released in September 2020.

“I ultimately was given a copy of those [Steele dossier] reports. They are incredible… like things you would never imagine seeing in an intelligence report… Your gut instinct wants to be ‘this can’t possibly be true’ but at the same time you realize, well, there is enough in here that is close to what we already know,” McCabe said. “You have to have a pretty solid investigation to stand on before you go to the court and say, ‘We believe that this person may be acting as an agent of a foreign power.’ … When the Steele reporting came into our hands, there were certainly facts in that reporting that were relevant to the Carter Page application. It’s not uncommon to put information into a FISA package that you’re not 100% confident of.”

McCabe also argued on CNN in November 2020 that Trump should not declassify further information related to the Trump-Russia investigation, claiming that there was still secretive classified intelligence that could “risk casting the president in a very negative light.”

Durham’s report in 2023 concluded that Crossfire Hurricane was launched without conducting any interviews of “witnesses essential to understand the raw information” the FBI had received, as well as without using “any of the standard analytical tools typically employed by the FBI in evaluating raw intelligence.” The report asserted that if the bureau had taken these basic steps, “the FBI would have learned that their own experienced Russia analysts had no information about Trump being involved with Russian leadership officials.”

McCabe currently co-hosts the UnJustified podcast with Allison Gill, who tweets under the name “Mueller She Wrote.” He was also hired by CNN as a contributor in 2019, and went on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show in May 2023, where he said that he “absolutely” stood by the launch and the conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation, saying Durham had “failed to come up with anything new” as he called the Durham inquiry “not a legitimate investigation” but instead a “political errand” against Trump’s perceived enemies.

Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., sent a letter to Durham in 2023 pressing him on his investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators, noting that “it seems odd that individuals [such as McCabe] would be allowed to avoid fully cooperating with your office, particularly given your authority to compel testimony and records.”

Durham said McCabe “declined to be interviewed” by him. According to Durham’s report, Strzok opened Crossfire Hurricane “immediately” and did so “at the direction of” McCabe. FBI agent Jennifer Boone said that McCabe was “heavily involved in all aspects of the investigation” into Trump and Russia, and a DOJ attorney said that McCabe was pushing the Justice Department “to get this going.”

The Durham report concluded that “the FBI was not able to corroborate a single substantive allegation contained in the Steele Reports” and that “the FISA on Carter Page would not have been authorized without the Steele reporting.”

“I don't have any respect for that report or its author,” McCabe said of Durham and his report on a George Mason University podcast in July 2023. “It was flawed and politically motivated from the very beginning.”