We have found the cure for trump

Occupy Democrats

March 13, 2018

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We have found the CURE for Trump

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Posted by Occupy Democrats on Monday, March 13, 2017

What Happens Now That McCabe Is Fired? Consider These Five Things.

Esquire

What Happens Now That McCabe Is Fired? Consider These Five Things.

We appear to be experiencing a slow-motion “Saturday Night Massacre.”

 By Andrew Cohen     March 19, 2018

Shutterstock

By now, this much is clear: comparing our current constitutional “crisis” to Watergate only gets one so far. President Trump is far better situated to withstand the legal charges against him than President Nixon was four decades ago. That’s true even if, as some believe, the allegations against Trump and his people may be more pervasive than those swirling around Nixon and his crew before the latter resigned in disgrace. From Congress to the courts to the media, the institutional forces that checked Nixon’s power are far weaker today than they were in 1973 and 1974.

Count me among those who believe we are not yet at a “crisis,” but are witnessing instead a form of slow-motion “Saturday Night Massacre”—a rolling devolution in norms and standards, the latest iteration of which we endured Friday night when an attorney general who might be indicted himself for false statements fired a former FBI deputy director for reportedly lacking “candor.”

Constitutional rot” is what we are supposed to call what is happening, and that’s as evocative a phrase as any, I guess. Trump ultimately destroys all he touches (especially the truth) and he’s trying to destroy what we thought we all agreed on about constitutional checks and balances.

Getty Images

So here are five quick things to ponder about the firing of Andrew McCabe, and what may be coming next, as we gear up for the start yet another “Infrastructure Week” with a raging and vengeful president prowling the White House, fending off porn star allegationsrailing against Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and otherwise devaluing the office of the presidency.

If Michael Horowitz is in the tank for Trump, the Justice Department is in even worse shape than we think it is.

In my dealings with the Inspector General over the years, I have found him to be an honorable, earnest public servant. Horowitz is a professional and not a partisan, which is why so many journalists, academics, and law enforcement specialists over the weekend urged caution about prejudging the merits of the report Attorney General Jeff Sessions used to justify McCabe’s firing. If Horowitz is feeling undue pressure from Sessions or the president, I am confident he would do something about it. If he’s become a Trump toady, I’d be shocked, and worried.

McCabe was cooperating with the Mueller probe before he was fired.

The special counsel has had those “contemporaneous notes” McCabe took about the Comey firing for a while now, so it’s not as though McCabe suddenly became a key witness in the investigation once Sessions fired him. McCabe’s testimony will not be altered by his sudden defenestration at the FBI. Trump knows this, which is why he is doing the only other thing he can do: attempt to undermine McCabe’s credibility. Who do you think Mueller believes more? Comey and McCabe and their contemporaneous notes, or Trump and Sessions? Trump understands this calculus, which is why the stronger the case against him gets, the more unhinged are his attacks on Mueller.

Getty Images

Sessions has made a mockery of his recusal.

The Justice Department argues that the attorney general’s recusal doesn’t extend to personnel matters, like firing the former deputy director of the FBI who was investigating the subject matter of the recusal, but as Ryan Goodman and others have noted, that’s terribly weak sauce. The other big Sessions news of the weekend is that the paragon of ethics in Washington may have lied to Congress, and perhaps as well to Mueller’s investigators, about his role in the dance between the Trump team and the Russians in 2016. That puts him squarely on the hook for criminal charges if Mueller is so inclined.

Congressional Republicans are largely remaining silent.

If Trump, Sessions, or Rosenstein fire Mueller, and Senate and House Republicans do nothing but wring their hands about it, will you really be surprised? The tepid response to McCabe’s firing from the GOP caucus, and the new questions surrounding Sessions’ credibility, and the president’s deranged Tweeting, are additional warning signs that we shouldn’t presume these people are going to step up and be honorable Americans when the moment comes. “Sounding the alarm”? Hardly. Sen. Rand Paul’s comment—“I wouldn’t advocate it”—when asked how he would react if Mueller were fired tells you what you need to know about the courage behind that “libertarian” vote on Capitol Hill.

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John Dowd, one of the president’s lawyers, deserves the client he has (and vice versa).

I know that journalists have to share with the world what the president’s lawyers say. I know that part of the story here is whether and to what extent the president himself is signaling things through the comments of his advocates. But John Dowd’s Saturday “prayer” for an end to the Mueller investigation is one of those moments that might have been better downplayed, or even ignored. Every defense lawyer in history has prayed for the end to a prosecutor’s investigation into a client’s misconduct. Pro tip? Apply the same amount of skepticism the next time you see a story about negotiations between Team Trump and Team Mueller over a presidential interview.

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Here Are All the Details About Comey’s Memoir

Trump was going to name Gary Cohn head of the C.I.A. because, why not?

Vanity Fair

Trump was going to name Gary Cohn head of the C.I.A. because, why not?

A Wall Street executive with zero relevant experience? Hired!

By Bess Levin     March 19, 2018

Why not? By Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Fourteen months ago, the sentence “the Secretary of State has just learned he was fired via Twitter” probably seemed farfetched—maybe just slightly less ludicrous than the suggestion, by the president’s chief of staff, that the Cabinet official was warned of his imminent dismissal while on the can. But in Donald Trump’s world, where we all now reside, that‘s a totally normal set of events that actually happened. And now, we’ve learned that the situation was even more batshit behind the scenes, with the president apparently coming this close to making the sort of personnel decision that would’ve made tasking Ivanka with running the C.D.C. during an outbreak of the bubonic plague seem reasonable. Politico reports that before he decided he couldn’t take one more second working in the Trump administration, Gary Cohn was under strong consideration for the C.I.A. director job left vacant by Mike Pompeo, who’s set to replace Rex Tillerson at State. Yes, that Gary Cohn.

As National Economic Council director, ol’ Gar was more qualified than anyone working for Team Trump by a factor of 1,000. However, though he is many things—a former Goldman Sachs president, a shrewd trader, a guy who stands up for what he believes in (no indiscriminate tariffs!)—he also has zero background in national security. Appointing him to lead the Central Intelligence Agency would be like hiring me, your humble Levin Reportauteur, to perform brain surgery. Of course, to Trump, this made Cohn the perfect man for the job, by the same logic—you have no background for a job that requires a high level of expertise? You’re hired!—that probably informed decisions like the one to name Betsy What are these things you call ‘books’?” DeVos education secretary and to reportedly consider firing scandal magnet David Shulkin at Veterans Affairs and replacing him with Rick “Where am I? Who am I?” Perry. According to reporters Eliana Johnson, Ben White, and Andrew Restuccia, Trump “informally offered Cohn the position, telling him he thought he’d be a good fit for the job, and Cohn agreed to take it.”

In the end, of course, the president decided to name Pompeo’s deputy, Torture Queen Gina Haspel, to the C.I.A. role instead, and Cohn decided to run as far away as physically possible from Idiot Island. And while it’s unclear why Trump changed his mind—it’s possible this was just another instance of him letting words tumble from his mouth at random and not actually ever intending to make good on what he said or, more likely, he was smitten by her role running one of the agency’s most brutal “black sites,”—the real kicker is that we probably would have slept better with the wholly unqualified Cohn at the helm:

James A. Goldston Tweeted: “We did call her Bloody Gina. Gina was always very quick and very willing to use force. Gina and people like Gina did it, I think, because they enjoyed doing it. They tortured just for the sake of torture, not for the sake of gathering information.” http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/gina-haspel-as-if-nuremberg-never-happened/ …

     Gina Haspel: As If Nuremberg Never Happened

Nothing will say more about who we are, across three American administrations—one that demanded torture, one that covered it up, and one that seeks to promote its bloody participants—than whethertheamericanconservative.com

Trump-linked Cambridge Analytica caught on camera boasting about bribing politicians

RawStory

BUSTED: Trump-linked Cambridge Analytica caught on camera boasting about bribing politicians

Brad Reed     March 19, 2018 

Alexander Nix (YouTube)

The United Kingdom’s Channel 4 News went undercover in Cambridge Analytica by having its reporters pose as prospective clients and caught its executives making multiple claims of illicit behavior.

“In an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News, the company’s chief executive Alexander Nix said the British firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world,” the station reports. “This includes operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors. In one exchange, when asked about digging up material on political opponents, Mr. Nix said they could ‘send some girls around to the candidate’s house,’ adding that Ukrainian girls ‘are very beautiful, I find that works very well.’”

Nix also talked about setting up their candidates’ political rivals by giving them bribes that they would record and release on the internet.

“We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet,” he said.

Cambridge Analytica didn’t use its own employees to entrap politicians, however, as Nix said in the exchanges that they prefer to hire third-party operatives to do the work for them.

Watch the entire bombshell report below.

Our  Demeaner in Chief

John Hanno, www.tarbabys.com       March 18, 2018    

                Our  Demeaner in Chief

If anyone’s still hoping trump will somehow become “Presidential,” they’re as delusional as he exhibits daily.

If anything, he’s doubling down on pandemonium, by orchestrating chaotic episodes of the “Apprentice,” where at the end of the week, someone’s summarily canned and sent down the elevator to a waiting limo.

Unfortunately the impact of such fantasy playing out in the West Wing is not as benign as trump’s inconsequential reality show. Dedicated career employees like James Comey and Sally Yates, fired for refusing blind loyalty to king Donald, just fired Andrew McCabe, who backed up Comey’s narrative of his disputed encounters with trump, eminently respected business executive Rex Tillerson, unceremoniously fired by tweet after criticizing the Russians for dastardly deeds in Syria and in London last week, fired high level State Department official Steven Goldstein, who authored an official State Department statement that conflicted with White House accounts of how Mr. Tillerson was jettisoned, and countless additional federal career employees who’ve been fired, or have resigned like Gary Cohn, or retired in the face of trump administration discombobulation, are the intended consequences of trump’s scripted, bizarre notions of “Presidential” decorum.

trump’s done more damage to our institutions and  governing infrastructure than any president in history and couldn’t care less about the human flotsam.

We’ve witnessed an unprecedented (40%) turnover in trump administration employees. Granted, many of these employees should never have been allowed near the West Wing or even through the front gate of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, considering dozens couldn’t qualify for security clearances, but this isn’t normal by anyone’s standards.

trump hired Scott Pruitt to head the EPA, even though Pruitt spent decades opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate to protect America’s air, water and land; hired Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education, even though she’s been described as the strongest opponent of public education; hired Rick Perry for Secretary of Energy, even though he hadn’t a clue of what that job entailed; hired Ben Carson for Secretary of HUD because he once lived in an apartment; hired Wilber Ross for Secretary of Commerce apparently because he’s an expert at laundering Oligarchs money, hired Steven Munchin for Secretary of Treasury because he made a fortune foreclosing on Veterans and middle class mortgagees in distress after the financial collapse, hired Mick Mulvaney because he routinely railed against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and middle class entitlement programs; hired Tom Price, a staunch opponent of Obamacare and social safety net programs, for Secretary of Health and Human Services, before he was fired for insider trading in health stocks and squandering taxpayers money on extravagant travel expenses; hired Ryan Zinke for Secretary of the Interior because he, like trump, is bound and determined to turn over America’s National Parks and public lands to fossil fuel and mining interests.

I could go on and on but the point is, trump’s idea of “Best and Brightest” is in stark contrast to the Obama administration, who actually hired experts qualified and eager to improve their departments, not destroy them.

With a few exceptions, like Gary Cohn and Rex Tillerson, and probably Generals Mattis and McMaster, would any respectable major corporation or organization hire for department level positions, any of the unqualified and flawed characters trump hired as his “best and brightest?”

We soon learned, trump’s main focus was not to find and assign the “Best People,” who might exhibit expertise for a particular position in his administration, but to appoint someone keen on undermining the basic institutions America relies on to effectively govern in a democratic society. Sadly, Democratic principles are foreign to trump’s business and ethical sensibilities.

Is it any wonder this cast of political misfits have run amuck. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show struggles to keep a running list of all the casualties of trump’s administration. The show had to reconfigure her set so that all three columns showing more than 50 names could fit in the screen.

Most of the people brought into trump world seem to have one thing in common. They’re either adept at sycophancy or are tarnished individuals previously engaged in all sorts of dubious or criminal conduct. Fraud, money laundering, insider trading, domestic abuse, tax fraud, gambling, unbound avarice, no holds barred self dealing, back stabbing, or any form of anti social behavior is a plus on their resumes.

In any other administration in America’s history, these tarnished miscreants would have never been considered, let alone employed. But trump views their moral character flaws as a badge of courage, examples of business genius and resourcefulness. Winning at all costs is integral to trumps idea of fairness and proof of a persons ideological bona fides.

Bad conduct seems a pre-requisite for entering trumps world, and unquestioned loyalty is required for staying there.

Once that loyalty fades for even a moment, the king issues the decree; “you’re fired!”

The list of casualties grows daily and is too numerous to mention here. But after the firing dust settles, trump moves people around like pieces on a chess board, not with any  consideration of talent or fitness for the job but with the main goal of securing loyalty.

trump’s only left with rearranging the human deck chairs on the Titanic because most potential qualified applicants have enough sense to steer clear of this toxic environment.

No one’s surprised trump’s engulfed in the Stormy Daniels reality show scandal. No one’s surprised he cheated on his wife while she was carrying his child, or that he tried to cover it up. We’re no longer surprised when the daily calamity and sleaze oozes from the White House.

No one’s surprised trump’s looking for his 5th communications director. Lying to the public and the press is the primary prerequisite. No one’s surprised he fired Rex Tillerson with a Tweet, or that he lied to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then bragged about it during a campaign stop, or that he’s been trying to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions for months, or that he browbeat Sessions into firing Andrew McCabe a day before he was to retire and collect a pension, or that he’s chomping at the bit, to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Special Investigator Robert Mueller, National Security Advisor McMaster and probably at lease a half dozen other employees Fox News implores him to ditch and demean.

trump now claims “he’s almost got the cabinet he’s always wanted.” Wow! Wow!

trump is the ultimate tarbaby, the pre-eminent Brer Rabbit like trickster, who schemes and connives and creates havoc all along his gold plated career paths and in every situation he engages, but then wriggles free at the last minute by turning the tables on acquaintances, employees and business partners. He employs the Midas touch in reverse. Yet he seems to escape every self imposed calamity unscathed, while those who pledged their allegiance, believed in his shtick, who fell for his cons, have crashed and burned.

trump lives to denigrate anyone and everyone at one time or another, except for the Russians and Vladimir Putin, who if you watch late night talk show satire and Saturday Night Live skits, would be an easy target for trump’s particular form of belittlement.

But trump refuses to criticize the Russians and quickly fires anyone, including Tillerson and maybe soon McMasters, when they speak out publically about Russian transgressions. Why isn’t trump troubled by Russian threats to world stability, to our democratic institutions, our critical infrastructure and our national security? It begs the question, what are the Russians holding over our Demeaner in Chief?

Progressive Americans yearns for normal, for a social community where folks sit down together, using facts and principles, and applies logic and critical thinking to solve problems. We now realize that’s foreign to trump’s realm of thought. He disregards most expert advise, embraces wild conspiracy theorists, promotes controversy, exacerbates solvable problems and takes delight in White House employee infighting.

What would trump’s unflinching base of enablers say if President Obama had done a fraction of what trump calls winning? When will the Republi-con controlled congress decide they’ve had enough?

JohnHanno, www.tarbabys.com

The Guardian – Video

Here Are the Top Officials in the Trump White House Who Have Left

New York Times

Here Are the Top Officials in the
Trump White House Who Have Left

Larry Buchanan, Alicia Parlapiano, Karen Yourish  March 6, 2018

Gary D. Cohn, President Trump’s top economic adviser, is the most recent high-profile member of the White House to announce plans to depart the West Wing.

White House staff members were sworn in on Jan. 22, 2017, in the East Room. Photo by Al Drago/The New York Times

Below are the top White House officials who resigned, or were fired, dismissed or reassigned.

Stephen K. Bannon, Chief strategist

President Trump told aides in August he had decided to remove Mr. Bannon, a right-wing nationalist who has clashed with other senior White House advisers and members of Mr. Trump’s family. But a person close to Mr. Bannon said that he had submitted his resignation to the president earlier that month. Full story »

Gary D. Cohn, Chief economic adviser

Mr. Cohn’s decision to leave came after he seemed poised to lose an internal struggle over Mr. Trump’s plan to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Full story »

Mike Dubke, Communications director

Mr. Dubke told colleagues that the reasons for his resignation were “personal.” Full story »

Michael T. Flynn, National security adviser

Mr. Trump asked Mr. Flynn for his resignation more than two weeks after he was told that Mr. Flynn had lied to the vice president and was vulnerable to blackmail by Russians. Full story »

Sebastian Gorka, White House adviser

Mr. Gorka served as an adviser to the president on national security issues. Two administration officials said that he was forced out, and a conservative website reported that he had resigned. Full story »

Hope Hicks, Communications director

On Feb. 28, Ms. Hicks, one of Mr. Trump’s longest-serving advisers, said she planned to leave the White House in the coming weeks. Full story »

T. McFarland, Deputy national security adviser

Ms. McFarland, who was brought to the White House by Mr. Flynn, was named ambassador to Singapore last May. Full story »

Omarosa Manigault Newman, Director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison

A former contestant on Mr. Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice,” Ms. Newman was pushed out by Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, John F. Kelly, in December. Full story »

Rob Porter, Staff secretary

Mr. Porter cleared out his office in early February amid accusations of spousal abuse. Full story »

Dina H. Powell, Deputy national security adviser

The White House announced on Dec. 8 that Ms. Powell, one of the most influential women in the Trump administration, was going to step down. Full story »

Reince Priebus, Chief of staff

Mr. Priebus was pushed out, tendering his resignation after Mr. Trump told Mr. Priebus he wanted to make a change and offered the job to John Kelly. Full story »

Anthony Scaramucci, Communications director

He was fired by Mr. Kelly days after a vulgarity-laced telephone call with a New Yorker reporter was made public. Full story »

Keith Schiller, Director of Oval Office operations

One of the president’s most trusted aides, Mr. Schiller announced his departure in September. Full story »

Sean Spicer, Press secretary, communications director

Mr. Spicer resigned, telling Mr. Trump that he disagreed with Mr. Trump’s hiring of Mr. Scaramucci as communications director. Full story »

Katie Walsh, Deputy chief of staff

Ms. Walsh was forced out by Jared Kushner and other West Wing officials. She joined the pro-Trump outside group America First Policies.

Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Senior director for intelligence, National Security Council

Mr. Cohen-Watnick was appointed by Mr. Flynn. He was pushed out by Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who succeeded Mr. Flynn. Full story »

Tera Dahl, Deputy chief of staff, N.S.C.

A former writer for Breitbart News who was appointed by Mr. Flynn, Ms. Dahl left the White House for a post at the United States Agency for International Development.

Derek Harvey, Middle East adviser, N.S.C.

No explanation was given for his exit, but Mr. Harvey was appointed by Mr. Flynn and was widely reported to have been at odds with Mr. McMaster. Full story »

Rich Higgins, Director in the strategic planning office, N.S.C.

Mr. Higgins was forced out after writing a memo arguing that Mr. Trump was being subverted by an array of foreign and domestic enemies, including “globalists” and officials of the “deep state.” Full story »

Josh Raffel, Senior communications official

Mr. Raffel mainly served as a spokesman for Mr. Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

Michael C. Short, Senior assistant press secretary

Mr. Short, who had been close to Mr. Spicer, resigned shortly after Mr. Scaramucci confirmed to reporters that he was planning to fire Mr. Short. Full story »

Trump Demanded Nondisclosure Pacts So Staffers Can Never Spill

HuffPost

Report: Trump Demanded Nondisclosure Pacts So Staffers Can Never Spill

Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost     March 19, 2018

President Donald Trump has pressured senior White House staff members to sign nondisclosure agreements that are more sweeping than ever demanded by a president, The Washington Post reported.

The agreements are applicable to staffers while they’re working in the White House and “at all times thereafter,” meaning they continue to apply even after Trump’s presidency, according to a draft agreement examined by Post deputy editorial page editor Ruth Marcus.

The draft agreement says staffers could be fined as much as $10 million for unauthorized release of confidential information. Marcus wrote in an op-ed on Sunday that she suspects the penalty is lower in signed agreements.

All of Trump’s senior staffers appear to have signed the agreements, with some believing it unenforceable, Marcus reported. Trump, enraged by leaks, pressed for compliance early last year.

Marcus called such agreements that gag White House staff members even after the president’s term “not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant.”

The draft agreement defines “confidential” information as “all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties,” including “communications [with] the press” and with “employees of federal, state, and local governments.” The information cannot be revealed, even in a “work of fiction.”

Trump’s zeal against leakers was reflected in threats his attorney made Friday against porn star Stormy Daniels, who has she had a nearly yearlong affair with Trump in 2006. Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen warned that  Daniels could be sued for as much as $20 million if she violates a non-disclosure agreement.

“60 Minutes” is set to broadcast an interview with Daniels on Sunday.

 

Ex-CIA Boss John Brennan Tears Into Donald Trump Over Andrew McCabe Firing

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Is Fired 2 Days Before Retirement

Huff Post

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Is Fired 2 Days Before Retirement

Carla Herreria     March 16, 2018

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI and a frequent target of President Donald Trump, was fired Friday, days before his formal retirement. The firing of McCabe, a civil servant who has been at the bureau for more than two decades, could significantly affect his pension.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the decision to oust McCabe after the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended he be fired for his alleged lack of candor during an internal review of how the FBI and Justice Department handled an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe and his attorney met Thursday with Scott Schools, the highest-ranking career employee of the Justice Department, in an attempt to prevent the firing or at least save his ability to begin collecting a pension estimated at $60,000 a year.

McCabe, a lifelong Republican, had officially stepped down from his post in late January but was using accrued leave to stay on the FBI’s payroll until his retirement date on Sunday, his 50th birthday. Being fired before his birthday means he’d have to wait several more years before he can draw a pension.

Sessions said late Friday in a statement:

“After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

“The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor ― including under oath ― on multiple occasions.

The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, “all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.”

Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.

McCabe responded to the firing in a lengthy statement.

“The investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility,” McCabe wrote.

He continued:

The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI’s involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.    

McCabe had been with the bureau since 1996 and served a short stint as the acting FBI director after President Donald Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey last May. After the U.S. Senate confirmed Christopher Wray as the bureau chief, McCabe returned to his original role as deputy director.

McCabe abruptly announced he was leaving the bureau at the end of January while tangled in an internal investigation of his handling of the FBI investigations into Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department’s inspector general has been investigating how officials handled the Clinton investigation since just before Trump took office.

While Trump has accused McCabe of having a political bias in favor of Clinton, the Justice Department’s forthcoming internal review suggests he may have actually authorized the disclosure of information that was damaging to the Clinton campaign.

The report evidently says that McCabe authorized a discussion involving one of his top aides, the FBI’s chief spokesman and a Wall Street Journal reporter for a story, published Oct. 30, 2016, that included details of McCabe pushing back on Obama appointees in the Justice Department to continue an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

FBI officials are barred from disclosing information about ongoing criminal investigations. The Justice Department’s inspector general recommended that Sessions fire McCabe as a result of the internal review, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

McCabe has been at odds with Trump in recent months, with the president apparently trying to undermine McCabe and the FBI’s credibility.

In December, Trump publicly complained about McCabe’s wife’s political affiliations (Jill McCabe unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for a Virginia state Senate seat in 2015), criticized his oversight of the FBI investigations into Clinton and even mocked his retirement plans.

In one of his tweets, Trump claimed that McCabe received a campaign donation of $700,000 from “Clinton Puppets,” apparently referencing a donation to Jill McCabe’s campaign totaling up to $675,000 from former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s political action committee.

The donation was made before Andrew McCabe was promoted to deputy director and headed the FBI’s Clinton investigation. McAuliffe is an ally to both Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Trump also reportedly called McCabe into his office for a meeting, then asked him which candidate he voted for in the 2016 presidential election, The Washington Post reported in January.

David Bowdich, the FBI’s associate deputy director, is expected to replace McCabe as deputy director, according to The Washington Post. Bowdich has been with the FBI since 1995.

Trump White House Worked with Newt Gingrich on Political Purge at State Department

Mother Jones

Trump White House Worked with Newt Gingrich on Political Purge at State Department, Lawmakers Say

Trump officials called civil servants “turncoat” and “Obama/Clinton loyalists.”

Dan Friedman     March 15, 2018

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich on March 16, 2017. Melanie Rogers/Cox/Planet Pix via Zuma Wire

White House and State Department officials conspired with prominent conservatives, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to purge the State Department of staffers they viewed as insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump, two top House Democrats allege in a letter released Thursday.

The letter states that an unidentified whistleblower shared documents with Democrats on the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees showing that a group of White House officials pressed political appointees at the State Department to oust career civil service employees they described with terms like “Turncoat,” “leaker and a troublemaker,” and “Obama/Clinton loyalists not at all supportive of President Trump’s foreign policy agenda.”

As described in the letter, those actions would likely violate federal laws protecting federal civil servants from undue political influence.

In the letter to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and State Department Deputy Secretary John Sullivan, Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, cite an email forwarded by Gingrich to Trump appointees in the State Department (the Democrats released a summary of the leaked documents, rather than the original emails). In an undated email, David Wurmser, who advised former Vice President Dick Cheney and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, wrote, “Newt: I think a cleaning is in order here. I hear [Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson has actually been reasonably good on stuff like this and cleaning house, but there are so many that it boggles the mind.” (Trump fired Tillerson earlier this week.)

Cummings and Engel say they are “particularly concerned” about documents showing an effort to drive out Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, a career civil servant at the State Department assigned to the policy planning staff. The letter notes that Brian Hook, the director of that division, forwarded an email from Nowrouzzadeh in which she defended herself against an attack that had been published in a conservative publication. The officials then discussed whether she was too supportive of the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by President Barack Obama. Several of the officials discussed ousting Nowrouzzadeh. Julia Haller, a White House liaison to the State Department, wrote that Nowrouzzadeh “was born in Iran and upon my understanding cried when the President won.” Nowrouzzadeh was born in Connecticut. Haller did not cite the basis of her claim about Nowrouzzadeh’s election reaction.

Nowrouzadeh was removed from her post on the Policy Planning Staff three months earlier than scheduled in a manner she said violated a memorandum of understanding governing her assignment.

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