Fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has raised more than $400,000 on GoFundMe to pay for his legal defense less than 24 hours after the crowdfunding page’s Thursday launch.
The GoFundMe page—created by “Friends of Andrew McCabe”—originally sought $150,000 and later $250,000 to pay for defense attorneys to counsel him on congressional inquiries, Justice Department probes into his conduct, and represent him in “any potential lawsuits he might consider.”
But the page has well surpassed this goal—raising $415,898 as of Friday morning.
“Andrew McCabe’s FBI career was long, distinguished, and unblemished,” a statement on the fundraising page reads. “His reward for that has been a termination that was completely unjustified, amidst repeated ad hominem attacks by the President of the United States.”
The page claims that the proceeds of this fundraiser would not be used to fight for his pension and benefits and that any money left over from the defense fund would go to a charity hand-picked by the McCabe family.
McCabe has made a vocal effort to proclaim his innocence in the weeks after his firing. The former FBI deputy claimed in a Washington Post op-ed published last week that although he has been “accused of lack of candor,” he did not “knowingly mislead or lie to investigators.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on a recommendation from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) shortly before the FBI deputy was eligible for retirement.
The OPR recommendation came after the DOJ Inspector General’s office accused McCabe of making “unauthorized disclosures to the news media” and misleading Justice Department investigators under oath. The inspector general had made an inquiry into leaks to the media and alleged that McCabe had a “lack of candor” with the office about the inquiry.
The House Oversight Committee interviewed McCabe in December about whether alleged political bias at the FBI influenced the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
After McCabe stepped into the FBI’s top spot following the firing of his ally James Comey in May, some FBI observers hammered him for his ties to Hillary Clinton loyalists while the agency was investigating Clinton’s email server.