On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe commented on Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz’s report on the investigation into alleged Trump campaign ties to Russia.
Burnett asked, “The bottom line conclusion, the inspector general report, the one the president said everybody should watch and be ready for, has concluded the Russia investigation was launched in a legal and unbiased way. You were there at the start. What’s your reaction tonight?”
McCabe said, “A lot of people have asked me today, have am I relieved? Am I happy? The answer is no. I’m not relieved. I expected this result. I was there. I know that we didn’t do anything wrong. Rather than do something wrong, rather than plot the coup that the president and the Republicans have been talking about for two years, we did our job. We were presented with facts that clearly called for an investigation. We opened the investigations and pursued them the way the American people would expect us to.”
Burnett pressed, “On a personal level since he’s been going after you personally, do you feel vindicated tonight that this report concludes you did the right thing?”
McCabe said, “As I said, I’ve known all along that we did the right thing. Not just me but the group of people that I worked with at the FBI. It’s been disgusting to watch how the president talks about all of us, how he debases and degrades our organization. How he and the Attorney general, to some extent, have leveled all kinds of false, baseless accusations about the work we did. So is it satisfying today to see the IG come out with truly inescapable conclusions based on evidence? Yeah, it is satisfying, but it’s been a long time coming.”
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