Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was fired Friday at the recommendation of the FBI’s Office of Personal Responsibility, but that hasn’t stopped the media from placing the blame on President Trump.
WATCH:
The OPR reportedly made its recommendation on the basis of an upcoming inspector general report that accuses McCabe of serious misconduct. McCabe allegedly leaked information about the 2016 Clinton investigation to the press and then lacked candor — a fireable offense in the FBI — when asked about it by investigators. (RELATED: FBI’s Andrew McCabe Fired Just Two Days Before Official Retirement)
As retired FBI special agent Bobby Chacon indicated during a Fox News interview Friday night, lack of candor is the “number one” reason agents get fired. Even Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intel Committee, said that McCabe’s firing may have been justified. (RELATED: Rep. Schiff: The Firing Of Andrew McCabe May Have Been Justified)
Michael Horowitz, the current IG who put together the report on McCabe, was an Obama appointee and has no connection to the Trump administration.
Nevertheless, the establishment media has been desperate to blameTrump for the firing. Analysis on the move has downplayed the role of the IG report and OPB recommendation in favor of accusing Trump of ordering Sessions to fire McCabe because of his personal vendetta and his desire to obstruct the Mueller investigation.
“[Trump] very vindictively told Jeff Sessions to fire Andrew McCabe this past week,” CNN’s Brian Fallon said, as colleague Asha Rangappa asserted, “Trump was trying to retaliate or pressure Sessions into firing him.”
The pundits cited Trump’s prior tweets criticizing McCabe as evidence that Sessions was acting at the direction of the president rather than following the recommendations of OPR.
MSNBC anchor Joy Reid suggested on Sunday that she didn’t at all believe the accusations that McCabe lacked candor, declaring that the Trump administration “wormed around” until they could find an excuse to fire McCabe.
Getting at the heart of the obstruction allegations, MSNBC analyst Clint Watts alleged that Trump fired McCabe as an attempt “to remove any witnesses to the Russia investigation or to the Comey firing,” while other media talking heads questioned the “timing” of the firing because it occurred just a couple of days before McCabe was set to officially retire.
“The whole idea that this firing was done this late on a Friday night makes it look very rushed, very politicized,” law professor Joyce Vance argued Friday night.
Summing up the feelings about McCabe’s dismissal from those in the establishment media, MSNBC anchor Dara Brown wondered out loud on Saturday, “Is there any way to see this as a non-political move?”
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