FBI Official Fired By Sessions Sets Up Legal Defense Fund

Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who was controversially fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has set up a legal defense fund, the law firm representing McCabe announced Thursday.

“Media reports indicate that at a minimum, there are a number of congressional inquiries that he will be required to respond to, as well as the broader Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation that is ongoing, and any potential lawsuits he might consider,” the GoFundMe page for the fundraising effort says.

McCabe was fired earlier this month just hours before he’d be eligible for his full FBI retirement package. The Justice Department statement announcing his termination accused McCabe of “unauthorized disclosure to the news media” and of a lack of candor, related to the the OIG’s probe into how the bureau handled the Clinton email scandal.

McCabe has denied the allegations. A cloud hanging over his firing is the repeated public attacks President Trump launched against McCabe, particularly once Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation began heating up. Privately, Trump reportedly mocked McCabe’s wife’s defeat in a 2015 Virginia state senate race.

The attacks on McCabe were part of a larger effort by the president and his supporters to push the notion that anti-Trump bias is rampant at the FBI.

“The support for Mr. McCabe has been overwhelming, humbling, and deeply appreciated.  He and his family continue to deal with the very public and extended humiliation that the Administration, and the President personally, have inflicted on them over the past year,” McCabe’s GoFundMe page says.