As deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe “admonished” other FBI officials over leaks he himself authorized.
That’s one of the damning revelations the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released in a Friday report.
“Crafty plan,” was how Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan described the McCabe revelation to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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McCabe berating other FBI officials over the leaks suggests he was “trying to cover his tracks,” House Judiciary Committee member Jordan said.
“Who does that?” Jordan asked rhetorically.
McCabe “lacked candor” in interviews in which he denied authorizing a subordinate to leak information about a Clinton Foundation investigation to The Wall Street Journal for an article published Oct. 30, 2016, investigators determined.
McCabe, who was fired on March 16, authorized the leaks “in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership,” according to the report.
But not only did McCabe falsely deny being behind the leaks, he admonished two FBI executives over the disclosures, the IG report said.
One section of the document entails phone calls McCabe had with the Assistant Directors in Charge at both the New York and Washington, D.C., field offices following the publication of The Journal article.
The FBI officials “told us that they each received calls from McCabe admonishing them for leaks contained in the October 30 WSJ article about the [Clinton Foundation] Investigation,” the report says.
But during those conversations, McCabe did not reveal he was actually behind the leaks.
“At no time did McCabe disclose to either of them that McCabe had authorized Special Counsel to disclose information about the CF Investigation to the WSJ reporter,” the report reads.
McCabe was “ticked about leaks” in the Journal article, The New York official told the office of the inspector general. But the official “pushed back,” saying the New York agents were not privy to some of the information contained in the Journal piece.
The Washington official had a similar experience with McCabe.
McCabe called the Washington official and “admonished him regarding leaks in the article,” the official said. McCabe told the official to “get his house in order.”
McCabe did not recall calling either official to reprimand them over leaks, the FBI depute director said.
McCabe contacted the New York official again on Nov. 4 following the publication of another Wall Street Journal article that referred to the information McCabe had leaked. The official said McCabe was “angry.” McCabe said There “will be consequence[s] and get to bottom of it post elect[ion]. Need leaks to stop. Damaging to org,” the New York official wrote in his notes.
McCabe also did not recall details of that conversation, the FBI deputy director said.
This report, by Chuck Ross, was cross posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
