by Jerry Dunleavy
On May 9, 2017, hours after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Andrew McCabe, as acting director, opened an obstruction of justice investigation into the president, framing Comey’s dismissal as potential interference in the Russia probe. Newly declassified memos reveal McCabe’s rapid escalation, leveraging Comey’s private notes to justify targeting Trump directly.
McCabe would later undercut efforts by Trump to pay a visit to the FBI, and McCabe would also soon exacerbate the tensions between Mike Flynn and then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Flynn, Pence, and the Kislyak call
Obama had announced on December 29, 2016 that “I have ordered a number of actions in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election.”
“I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners,” Obama said. “I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.”
Obama also said that “the State Department is also shutting down two Ru+3382+ssian compounds, in Maryland and New York, used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes, and is declaring ‘persona non grata’ 35 Russian intelligence operatives.”
Then-Vice President Mike Pence had told CBS News on January 15, 2017 that “I talked to General Flynn about that conversation [with Kislyak]… It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”
“It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn later told the Daily Caller in February 2017 about his call with Kislyak. “So that’s what it turned out to be. It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.”
But Flynn signed a guilty plea in November 2017 after being targeted by the Mueller investigation. The Mueller team contended that “FLYNN’s false statements and omissions impeded and otherwise had a material impact on the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.”
Flynn’s legal team moved to withdraw Flynn’s guilty plea in January 2020, declaring their client was “innocent” and pointing to “the government’s bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement.”
Flynn’s lawyers told the court in the summer of 2020 that they believed the declassified information was exculpatory evidence “demonstrating (i) his innocence; (ii) the absence of any crime; (iii) government misconduct in the investigation of General Flynn; and (iv) prosecutorial misconduct in the suppression of evidence favorable to the defense.”
February 10, 2017 — McCabe meets with Pence about Flynn controversy
McCabe penned an additional memo about a counterintelligence briefing that he and Priestap gave at the Office of the Vice President on February 10, 2017 — just three days before Flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser at the behest of Pence. The memo shows that it was McCabe who showed Pence and other White House officials the Flynn-Kislyak transcript, and that McCabe discussed the Logan Act with Pence and others.
McCabe wrote that “I went to the White House to provide a basic CI [counterintelligence] defensive brief to the staff members of the Office of the Vice President” and that, after leaving the briefing and preparing to head back to FBI quarters, a yet-redacted FBI special agent “informed me that the White House Counsel’s office had been trying to reach me. Before leaving the White House grounds, I contacted the Sit Room. They informed me that White House Counsel Donald McGahn requested that I meet him in the West Wing to discuss an urgent matter in person.”
McCabe first went to McGahn’s office and then went to Pence’s office in the West Wing, where he met with Pence, McGahn, White House counsel’s office lawyer James Burnham, Pence chief of staff Josh Pitcock, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
“After entering the office, Mr. Priebus informed me that he wanted to review ‘the transcripts.’ I understood he was referring to the transcripts of the telephone conversations between National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak that were recently revealed in an article in the Washington Post,” McCabe wrote. “He mentioned that he knew the FBI previously allowed John Eisenberg, Legal Advisor to the National Security Staff, to review the transcripts. I indicated to Mr. Priebus and the others that I could have Bill Priestap retrieve the transcripts from FBI HQ so that they could review them. The Vice President asked me to dispatch Bill Priestap so that they could review the materials as soon as possible.”
McCabe said that he left the room to call Priestap and to direct him to retrieve the transcripts, and that he also spoke with FBI general counsel James Baker, who “agreed that the review was permissible.”
McCabe said he returned to the office and “I received several questions from Mr. Priebus about how the transcripts could have leaked to the media, and whether or not the FBI was investigating the leak. I replied that we did not know how information about the transcripts had been leaked but that we had submitted a referral to the Department of Justice requesting authorization to begin a media leak investigation. I explained that the investigations would include recent and previous revelations in the Washington Post and other news outlets.”
Leakers not caught
McCabe also wrote in his memo that “Pence asked if I had read the transcripts and I indicated that I had. He then asked if the articles were correct. I first stated that I could not confirm whether the reporter had access to the transcripts or if they had merely spoken to someone who had such access. I then stated that I thought the article in the Post accurately reflected the substance of the transcripts. The Vice President asked, ‘Did they talk about the sanctions?’ I understood him to be asking whether Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak discussed the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia at the end of December 2016. I indicated that they did discuss the sanctions in those conversations.”
The memo by McCabe stated that “the Vice President indicated that he needed to discuss the matter with his staff, so I left the room to wait for Mr. Priestap to return with the transcripts.”
Once the transcripts were retrieved by Priestap, McCabe wrote that “I provided the Vice President with transcripts of telephone calls captured on 12/23/2016, 12/29/2016 and 12/31/2016. All three calls were between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak.” McCabe said that “I brought the Vice President’s attention to the call on 12/29/2016” — the call McCabe knew the FBI had grilled Flynn on the month prior.
“While reading the first two pages he commented that several items were consistent with what Mr. Flynn previously informed him had been discussed on the call. He requested that Mr. Pitcock get him a transcript of his comments to CBS news and one was produced. He also asked when the Obama administration announced the sanctions against Russia and someone confirmed that the sanctions were made public on 12/29/2016,” McCabe said of Pence. “Upon reading the portion of the transcript that detailed Mr. Flynn’s comments about the sanctions, the Vice President appeared frustrated and noted that Mr. Flynn initiated the discussion on that topic. The Vice President and the others compared Mr. Flynn’s statements in the transcripts with the Vice President’s comments to CBS News, and discussed what Mr. Flynn had told the Vice President about his conversations.”
McCabe wrote that Priebus, McGahn, Burnham, and Pitcock also reviewed some of the transcripts.
“Mr. Priebus asked me questions about whether or not the discussions related in the transcripts could constitute a violation of the Logan Act. I replied that he would need to ask the Department of Justice whether or not the calls constituted a violation of the act,” McCabe wrote. “I further stated that I was not aware of any prior prosecutions of Logan Act violations. Mr. Priebus asked if previous administrations had similar contacts with foreign representatives prior to taking office officially. I indicated that although I could not speak authoritatively about the actions of previous administrations, I thought it was possible that considerations like that could have been why the act had not been charged in the past.”
Just the News reported earlier this month that former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers told FBI agents that the crux of another Pulitzer Prize award-winning Washington Post story on the Russia collusion hoax was “wrong.”
May 9, 2017 — McCabe meets with Sessions and Trump the day Comey is fired
McCabe wrote another memo detailing his meetings with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then with President Trump on May 9, 2017 — shortly after the news leaked that Trump had fired Comey that day. McCabe would quickly be put in charge of the bureau.
“I was pulled out of a meeting and informed that Attorney General Sessions wanted to speak to me in his office at Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters. … I waited about 10 minutes and was then brought back into the AG’s private office,” McCabe wrote. “Present in the office were the Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein and the DAG’s Chief of Staff, Jim Crowell. The AG immediately informed me that the President had fired FBI Director James Comey and that I was now the Acting Director of the FBI.”
McCabe wrote: “The AG did not specifically explain the reasons for Director Comey’s termination. He did explain that the FBI was an outstanding institution and that his desire was to ensure that it continued to perform in an exemplary manner. I assured him that I would do everything necessary to make sure that we continued to pursue our mission.” McCabe said he was instructed by Sessions not to talk about it.
“I returned to my office after meeting with the Attorney General at the Department of Justice. My staff informed me the White House called to request that I come over to meet President Trump,” McCabe wrote. “I have never met, or interacted with, the President in any way before this.”
The memo stated that “I entered the Oval Office and introduced myself to the President, who was sitting behind his desk. Also present was Vice President Michael Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Counsel Donald McGahn, and one additional male individual who I presumed was also with the White House Counsel’s office.”
“President Trump informed me that the Director Comey [sic] had been fired and he asked me to serve as Acting Director. The President stated that the Director ‘had to go’ because of the decisions he made last summer and for many other reasons,” McCabe wrote. “The President asked if I knew that the Director told him three times that he was not under investigation. I told him that I was aware of that, but at the forefront of my mind was the termination letter the President had just sent Director Comey. (At that moment I knew that Director Comey had told the President that he was not under investigation, but could not remember exactly how many times that had occurred.)”
McCabe said Trump asked if he was “a part of ‘the resistance’ that disagreed with Director Comey’s decisions last summer on the Hillary Clinton email investigation” and McCabe “explained that I worked very closely with Director Comey and that I was a part of all those decisions.”
The memo stated: “The President said that he had great hopes for me, thought I would do a good job, and said I would be considered for the permanent position. He said my only negative issue was the ‘mistake’ about my wife’s run for office. I understood he was referring to my wife Dr. Jill McCabe’s run for a Virginia State Senate seat in 2015. He told me that he said many tough things about my wife in his campaign speeches, and I replied that we heard what he said.”
McCabe ended his memo by saying that Trump “wished me well, and I assured him I would continue to lead the FBI in the best way possible.” Unbeknownst to Trump, McCabe would soon use Comey’s firing as justification to open an obstruction of justice investigation against the president, to make it explicit that the FBI was investigating Trump personally over false claims of collusion, and to generate the appointment of a special counsel.
Comey’s firing spurs McCabe into action
Comey was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. Trump told Comey in a letter: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”
McCabe would later tell the Mueller team in September 2017 that the day Comey was fired, Comey told McCabe: “It’s all on you now. Don’t screw it up.” McCabe began to make big moves to preserve and escalate the Trump-Russia investigation.
“After Comey’s termination and McCabe’s conversations with Trump, he felt it was highly likely that he would be sent ‘elsewhere’ in the FBI and began to think ‘very defensively’ about the FBI investigations,” FBI notes of McCabe’s interview with the Mueller team said. “McCabe wanted to solidify the investigations to ensure they would continue even if McCabe was gone. Comey’s termination convinced McCabe that a special counsel was necessary. McCabe also wanted to inform Congress of the FBI’s open investigations and to open any other investigations for which they had predication in order to ‘draw an indelible line’ around their work.”
When Comey was fired, “McCabe became convinced he had to set the investigations on a course to move forward if he himself was fired,” the notes state.
The FBI said that “McCabe and others met several times after the termination to discuss whether there was predication to open an obstruction investigation on Trump… McCabe first wanted the team to look at the four or more open Russia investigations at the time and to decide if there were others that should be opened.”
McCabe told the Mueller team that he and others talked about “the fact that, by investigating the Trump campaign, they were, by definition, ‘sort of’ investigating Trump. As such, they wondered whether it would be accurate to tell Trump he was not under investigation.”
“The termination [of Comey] caused them to focus on whether to take the next step and open a case on Trump himself and whether it was necessary, given the existing investigation into the campaign,” the FBI notes state. “McCabe’s intention was to make sure cases that needed to be opened were opened and in doing so ensure the investigations had a ‘clear, un-erasable footprint’ in case he was fired the next day.”
The FBI notes state that McCabe “had discussions” with FBI general counsel Jim Baker “regarding whether there was sufficient predication to open an investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia and for obstruction of justice for terminating Comey. After their discussions, they decided to open an obstruction investigation.”
McCabe said that “what changed” his “calculus” on opening the obstruction investigation into Trump was Trump’s interview with Lester Holt, “when Trump said that he was thinking about Russia when he fired Comey.” McCabe also said that “the timing of the opening of the investigation right after Comey’s termination was ‘concerning’ but the facts lined up to support it.”
May 10, 2017 — McCabe meets Trump again and quietly undercuts FBI visit
McCabe penned another memo detailing his phone call and then Oval Office meeting with Trump on May 10, 2017. McCabe revealed that while to Trump’s face he said the president was welcome to visit the FBI, behind the scenes he worked to undercut the Trump visit — which did not end up happening.
“I received a call from the President on my unclassified office line… The purpose of the call (which we got to about half way through the call) was to ask if I thought the President should come to FBI headquarters to make a speech to our employees,” McCabe wrote. “I told him he was welcome to visit FBI headquarters any time he wanted. He asked me to come to the White House later in the day to discuss the possibility of his visit.”
McCabe also said that on the call “the President again asked if he knew that Director Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation. I told him I was aware of that.” The memo said that “the President closed the call by saying that he thought I would do a good job and that he had a lot of faith in me.”
McCabe said he went to the West Wing that afternoon.
“The President began by commenting that it had been a great decision to fire Director Comey because so many people hated him. He told me that many people were saying how much they did not like Director Comey, and that they were saying this to the White House and to the media. He asked if had seen that and I indicated that I had not,” McCabe wrote. “He stated, almost in the form of a leading question, that there was great dislike for Director Comey in the FBI, and asked if I thought people were glad he was gone. I said that there were some folks who were frustrated last summer with the outcome of the Clinton email investigation, and I offered that it was possible that some of them might now be glad the Director had been fired. I suggested this as a possible explanation for what the President claimed to have perceived, but I had no personal evidence of people being happy about the Director’s departure.”
The memo then said Trump “stated that he wanted to come to the FBI to see people and excite them and show them how much he loves the FBI. He asked if I thought he should come over for a visit and told him that he should come to the FBI whenever he wanted, and that he was always welcome. He pressed me to answer whether I thought it was a good idea for him to come and I said it was always a good idea to visit his people at the FBI. He pressed further by asking specifically if I thought he should come over now, which I understood to mean in the near future. I said, ‘Sure.’”
Trump then asked McGahn if he should visit the FBI, and McGahn said, “If the Acting Director of the FBI is telling you he thinks it is a good idea for you to visit the FBI, then you should do it.”
“The President looked at me and asked if that was what I was saying, did I think it was a good idea? I said yes,” McCabe wrote. “At the time I felt that the President and his staff wanted to schedule a visit, but that they wanted it to be at my invitation. I had great concerns about how the President would be received by the people at FBI Headquarters in light of the still raw emotions surrounding the Director’s firing the day before. But in light of the insistence of his questions, and the President’s prerogative to visit any Executive Branch entity, I thought it would not be appropriate to tell him not to come.”
The memo said that “the conversation then turned to logistics around the President’s visit” and that they agreed Trump would visit in two days. “The President asked me to have my staff work with his to coordinate a joint message. He said that he wanted me to promote the visit internally as much as I could. I offered that a speech in the courtyard would hold the largest crowd, and he asked that we make sure it was filled. We shook hands and I was dismissed,” McCabe wrote.
McCabe later told the Mueller team in September 2017 that he took steps to undercut Trump’s desire to visit the FBI.
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Jerry Dunleavy is the chief investigative correspondent at Just the News.
Photo “Michael Flynn” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
