Amidst the furor over a now-failed DOJ recommendation that onetime Trump associate Roger Stone get up to nine years in prison essentially for lying, the Department of Justice has announced that it will not prosecute fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe – over lying.
A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice has told counsel for McCabe that an investigation – in light of possible criminal charges – into his lying while he was at the agency now is “closed.”
Fox reported it obtained a copy of a letter from DOJ lawyer J.P. Cooney to Michael Bromwich, a representative for McCabe, affirming that it was shutting down the review of confirmation from the agency’s independent watchdog that McCabe lacked “candor” when questioned about leaks to the media.
“We write to inform you that, after careful consideration, the government has decided not to pursue criminal charges against your client, Andrew G. McCabe,” Cooney said in the letter.
“Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the government at this time, we consider the matter closed.”
Stone was caught up in the contrived claims by Democrats that the Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russia. FBI special counsel Robert Mueller could not substantiate that, but several of Trump’s associates, including Stone, were grilled about their knowledge, and eventually charged.
Mostly they were “process” offenses, such as “lying” to investigators.
The Stone controversy had the DOJ recommending what most consider an extremely harsh sentence, the later withdrawal of that sentence, a social media comment war involving the president and his detractors, and the resignation of the former U.S. attorney whose office oversaw the Stone prosecution.
Earlier, the Washington Examiner reported that dozens of pages of previously secret documents provided details of the FBI’s internal inquiry into McCabe.
The documents include a discussion in which McCabe denied being the source of a leak about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. However, in a follow-up meeting, the documents show, he reversed himself and admitted he had approved the disclosure.
The records were made available as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the left-wing group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report had cited “multiple instances” in which McCabe “lacked candor.” A previous investigation by Horowitz centering on McCabe’s leaks of confidential information to media about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Clinton Foundation also found he didn’t tell the full truth.
Horowitz found McCabe’s actions were “designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership.” The IG concluded “McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of an ongoing investigation in this manner violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct,” the Examiner said.
McCabe served as acting FBI director after President Trump fired James Comey. After the Horowitz findings, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe, just 26 hours before his scheduled retirement.
The Examiner reported at the time that based on the Horowitz report, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. was weighing criminal charges against McCabe. The DOJ denied McCabe’s appeal in September to avoid criminal charges.
CREW said it sued “to shed light on the underlying reason for McCabe’s termination to allow the public to assess the credibility of allegations of political motivation and the role that President Trump played in the attorney general’s decision.”
McCabe, who later joined CNN as an analyst, was asked by his network: “Will you take a deal in order to go on with the rest of your life if there is no big criminal attachment — you don’t have to do any time or anything like that?”
“Absolutely not, under any circumstances,” he replied.
The IG had faulted McCabe for leaking information to then-Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett for an Oct. 30, 2016 story titled “FBI in Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe,” the Fox report said.
McCabe had sued over his dismissal, but quickly dropped the case.
