McCabe says Mar-a-Lago was "a spy's dream."

 

Andrew McCabe - Former Director of the FBI

Andrew McCabe, the former FBI Deputy Director, was fired by former U.S President Donald Trump less than two days before he was due to retire in March 2018. Trump said McCabe's dismissal was "a great day for democracy."

McCabe said his dismissal was part of an effort to undermine the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election and potential collusion between Trump aides and Moscow. He told CNN that his downfall was the result of "a series of attacks designed to undermine my credibility and my reputation." As a consequence of his abrupt dismissal from the FBI, after working for them for nearly two decades, McCabe lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in pension entitlements.

In December 2017, Trump hinted that McCabe's days were numbered when he tweeted: "FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe, is racing the clock to retire with full benefits - 90 days to go." Trump also tweeted: "Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI."

McCabe had been accused of allegedly making an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and of lacking candour under oath. The criminal pursuit of McCabe ended in February 2020, when a grand jury did not return an indictment against him. McCabe sued the federal government for being fired and asserted that he'd been dismissed illegally for political reasons. The Justice Department settled rather than face a federal lawsuit. The Biden administration rescinded McCabe's dismissal, restored his full pension and other benefits, and allowed him to officially retire.

Donald Trump is now under legal investigation for allegedly removing classified and top secret documents from the White House, which were found at his estate and social club, Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Andrew McCabe said: " Mar-a-Lago is a spy's dream. It's a public place, easy to get into. A determined trained intelligence officer could get themselves in and likely get an audience with the former President, who had access to the utmost sensitive secrets that we have." Rolling Stone magazine recently reported that "Trump has bragged to associates that he has knowledge, some of it gleaned through U.S. intelligence of Emmanuel Macron's illicit love life..."