By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
When Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe just two days before he was set to retire with full benefits last week, Sessions’ justification was for what he described as McCabe’s “lack of candor” in dealing with an internal Justice Department investigation.
But it turns out, McCabe authorized a criminal FBI investigation a year ago into Sessions’ own lack of candor when he told Congress he had no contacts with Russians – a claim he later acknowledged wasn’t true, ABC News reported Wednesday evening. And that’s what prompted Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, a move that has incensed President Trump because the decision to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller now fell to Sessions’ deputy attorney general.
The discovery that Sessions was under investigation for perjury – essentially the same allegations leveled against McCabe – raises serious questions about Sessions’ ability to lead fair and impartial probes as the nation’s top prosecutor. It also raises questions about whether Sessions’ firing of McCabe was an act of retaliation or even a way to remove a top FBI official who has become a key witness in Mueller’s obstruction of justice case against Trump following the president’s firing of then-FBI Director James Comey.
McCabe kept extensive notes of his interactions with Trump, was among a few FBI officials whom Comey briefed on the president’s alleged pressure to end the Russia investigation and met with Mueller about the obstruction of justice case against Trump.
Soon after Sessions fired him on Friday, McCabe bluntly asserted that his termination was an attempt to undermine the special counsel investigation of Trump.
Sessions’ lawyer, Chuck Cooper, told the New York Times on Wednesday that the attorney general is no longer under investigation.
“The special counsel’s office has informed me that after interviewing the attorney general and conducting additional investigation, the attorney general is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress,” Cooper said in a statement. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/politics/sessions-fbi-investigation-perjury.html
