Andrew McCabe Is Asking For Immunity To Testify On Clinton Email Probe

WASHINGTON, USA - MAY 11: Andrew McCabe, Acting Director of the FBI after President Trump fired James Comey, during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Worldwide Threats in Washington, USA on May 11,... WASHINGTON, USA - MAY 11: Andrew McCabe, Acting Director of the FBI after President Trump fired James Comey, during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Worldwide Threats in Washington, USA on May 11, 2017. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is requesting immunity in exchange for his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, according to a Tuesday CNN report.

In a letter obtained by CNN, McCabe’s lawyer, Michael Bromwich, set out the terms to Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), wanting to establish that no information McCabe provided would be used against him in a criminal prosecution.

Per CNN, Grassley has called McCabe to testify next week, though the inspector general’s report has not yet been released. He has reportedly also called former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

In the letter, Bromwich added that if McCabe is not granted immunity, he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not self-incriminate.

After the Justice Department’s IG concluded that McCabe “lacked candor” in his interactions with internal investigators about giving FBI officials permission to talk about an ongoing investigation of the Clinton Foundation in 2016, the IG reportedly referred McCabe to the U.S. Attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution. McCabe has maintained his innocence.

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  1. General prudence on his part when you have the Republicans out to get him. But will feed the whole conspiracy theory-minded RWNJ’s.

  2. Reposting my comment from last night on another thread.

    Here’s an interesting tidbit that explains some of the latest unhinged tweets attacking the FBI. Trump is a conspiracy monger and he has been taking the demented ravings of CT sites like Gateway Pundit at face value. Here’s one of the tweets:

    The latest Gateway Pundit “scoop” seizes upon released texts from Page and Strzok, two FBI agents who used their work phones to communicate because they were having an affair, which has made their texts public property. Conservatives have pulled several of these messages out of context to paint lurid conspiracies. This text finds that they mentioned “oconus lures,” an apparent reference to spies outside the United States. Page and Strzok were requesting spies, therefore, Gateway Pundit concludes, “the FBI was engaged in Spygate” – i.e., the investigation of Trump’s campaign – “long before they let on.”

    Assuming that is what the texts mean, nothing in the messages makes any reference either to the Trump campaign or to Russia. It’s not surprising or scandalous that FBI agents would be using espionage tradecraft. Gateway Pundit seems to have invented the crucial factual element of the conspiracy out of thin air.

    It does seem to represent a new step that Trump is citing right-wing conspiracy theories who operate at a full level farther removed from reality than the right-wing conspiracy theorists he customarily cites.

    Now, Renato Mariotti has posted this tidbit in response to an announcement today that former Deputy FBI director, McCabe’s lawyers have asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to extend immunity from prosecution to McCabe in return for full testimony to the committee.

    Given the hostility of Trump friendly Senators on the committee, this is indeed a wise move. However the right wing CT world is extatic and conflating this standard practice (e.g. Ollie North) with their QAnon bullshit regarding the OIG report referenced by Trump in one of his tweets today. They are certain that McCabe is going to confess before the Senate, the OIG report will vindicate Trump, and all of Trump’s enemies including McCabe, Comey, Hillary, Rosenstein and maybe even Mueller and others will be indicted and jailed.

    The next few days will be even crazier than today and Trump is tweeting crazy shit even as I write:

    There is absolutely no evidence to support any of his bullshit and these unhinged assertions.

  3. The GOP, Fox News, and the rest of the right-wing media will have a field day with this - but given how vindictive, misleading, and dishonest Republicans are, one can hardly blame McCabe for taking steps to protect himself.

  4. Is there any doubt Trump’s no longer composing some of his own tweets.

  5. Are you calling the POTUS a liar?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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