President Trump on Wednesday called fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “a poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover,” returning fire against McCabe’s assertion that it’s “possible” Trump is a Russian agent.
“I think Andrew McCabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days.” Trump said, before invoking Hoover, the decadeslong FBI director.
Trump chuckles after referring to Andrew McCabe as a “poor man’s J. Edgar Hoover.”
“I think he’s a disaster,” Trump says. “He’s really made a fool out of himself over the past couple of days.” pic.twitter.com/DwTzlbOo2c
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 20, 2019
McCabe was fired last year after a Justice Department inspector general report found he lied to FBI agents and then-FBI Director James Comey about his decision to authorize a leak to the media. The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended his termination.
McCabe denounces Trump at length in his new book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects American in the Age of Terror and Trump. During book interviews, McCabe has not dismissed questions suggesting Trump is a double agent.
Trump has responded in kind since the book’s publication Tuesday.
“What he was trying to do was terrible,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “He was caught. I’m very proud to say we caught him. So, we’ll see what happens. But he is a disgraced man. He was terminated, not by me. He was terminated by others.”
The back-and-forth between Trump and McCabe comes amid reports that special counsel Robert Mueller could soon wrap up his two-year-old probe.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that Attorney General William Barr would decide when to release Mueller’s report.
“That will be up to the new attorney general,” Trump said. “He’s a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department. So, that will be totally up to him.”
