McCabe: Trump Dismissed U.S. Intel Agencies On NK, Took Putin’s Word Instead

Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe lambasted President Donald Trump for his “relentless attack” on the FBI, detailing a time when Trump dismissed intelligence agencies’ reports in favor information he’d gotten from Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to NPR.

In an interview published Monday, McCabe said that a security briefing, supposed to concern Russians using old diplomatic outposts to spy on American intel, was completely derailed when Trump went off on a “diatribe.” The President changed the subject to his unshakable conviction that North Korea’s missile launch was “a hoax,” information he got directly from Putin in direct contradiction with his own intel agencies.

“How do we impart wisdom and knowledge and the best of our intelligence assessments to someone who chooses to believe our adversaries over our intelligence professionals?” McCabe asked NPR.

McCabe also called the “volume” and “significance” of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia “remarkable” and historically unprecedented.

McCabe was fired last March hours before his retirement due to his “lack of candor” in a media leak investigation.

The former acting director has been making the media rounds as part of his book tour, eliciting Twitter rants from the President.

McCabe did already run into an embarrassing situation though, issuing a statement to deny that he told CBS that the 25th Amendment was discussed in the Department of Justice to remove Trump. CBS later released the transcript of the interview to contradict his denial.