Continuing A Twitter Rant, Trump Attacks McCabe, Mueller And Comey

President Donald Trump on Sunday morning continued to make personal the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday night.

Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source…or known someone else to be an anonymous source…?” He said strongly “never, no.” He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added…does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

First, while it is true some of Mueller’s team has made political contributions to Democrats in the past, it is misleading to say the team consists of “13 hardened Democrats.” As the Washington Post pointed out, Mueller is prohibited by federal regulations from making politically-motivated hiring decisions. And Mueller himself is a Republican.

Also, as the Washington Post pointed out, Comey was not asked by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) whether he had known someone else to be an anonymous source. Grassley actually asked whether Comey had “ever been an anonymous source” in reports relating to the investigations of Trump or Hillary Clinton, and whether Comey had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source” regarding the same investigations. Comey answered in the negative to both questions.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who carried out McCabe’s firing, said in a statement Friday night that both the office of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility “concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor − including under oath − on multiple occasions,” presumably during a previously-reported inspector general probe of the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In a lengthy response, McCabe said he had been singled out, and his credibility attacked, as “part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day.”

McCabe maintained that he was authorized to share information with the media through his staff; that “others, including [then-FBI Director James Comey], were aware of the interaction with the reporter;” and that he answered the inspector general’s questions “truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me.”

Following the firing, various outlets reported that McCabe had kept written memos detailing his interactions with Trump, and that he had been in touch with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

The Sunday tweets were a continuation of what Trump started the day before: a series of stinging statements that mixed justifications for McCabe’s firing with attacks against him personally, and against his former boss, ousted FBI Director James Comey.

Read Trump’s Saturday tweets related to the firing below:

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

As the House Intelligence Committee has concluded, there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. As many are now finding out, however, there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State. #DrainTheSwamp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

This post has been updated.