CNN Signs Fired FBI Official Andrew McCabe as Contributor

CNN has hired fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as a contributor, the network announced Friday morning.

McCabe was fired by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on March 16th, 2018, less than two days before the veteran FBI official was slated to retire. According to the Department of Justice, “McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”

The firing was recommended by the FBI’s discipline office after the Justice Department’s inspector general investigation determined McCabe had authorized FBI officials to disclose sensitive information to the media regarding an investigation related to Hillary Clinton and subsequently lied investigators about his role in the matter.

A criminal investigation into whether McCabe made false statements during an internal probe into his media disclosures remains ongoing, his attorney Michael Bromwich has said.

Earlier this month, McCabe sued the FBI and DOJ over his termination, alleging his ouster was “legal nullity.”

In his 48-page complaint, the fired FBI official alleges that the Trump administration “responded to Plaintiff’s two decades of unblemished and non-partisan public service with a politically motivated and retaliatory demotion in January 2018 and public firing in March 2018 — on the very night of Plaintiff’s long-planned retirement from the FBI.”

Further, McCabe alleges President Trump “purposefully and intentionally caused the unlawful actions of Defendants … and other Executive Branch subordinates that led to Plaintiff’s demotion and purported termination.”

“It was Trump’s unconstitutional plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him. Plaintiff’s termination was a critical element of Trump’s plan and scheme,” reads the complaint.

McCabe has asked a judge to rule that “his demotion was unlawful and his purported termination was either a legal nullity,” or ensure he receives the retirement benefits he was expected to receive upon retirement.

His lawsuit came two days after former FBI agent Peter Strzok sued the FBI and the DOJ over his own termination, alleging his firing was “politically-driven and illegal.”