Last updated on March 10th, 2019 at 10:29 am
Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe might not be in the bureau anymore, but he believes the case that Donald Trump is a Russian asset has only grown stronger since he left.
In an interview with MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes, McCabe said the FBI believed they had enough evidence to investigate the president’s campaign for two potential crimes: obstruction of justice and conspiracy with a foreign adversary.
“It was our belief at that time that we had indicators to believe that both factors might be present,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything since May of 2017 that would warn me off of that possibility.”
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Video:
Andrew McCabe says Trump is behaving like a man who is owned by Russia. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/cb5zRfbfQ1
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 21, 2019
McCabe said:
We were very confident in May of 2017 that we had facts and information in our possession that clearly put us at the threshold that required that we open a case and that threshold is having an articulable, factual basis to indicate that a federal crime may have been committed. In this case obstruction of justice or that a threat to national security existed. It was our belief at that time that we had indicators to believe that both factors might be present. What Director Mueller has added to that compendium of fact, that complete understanding of what’s going on, we can only guess that. But we can pull at those threats that you’ve mentioned, right, the things we’ve all observed over the last year. The president’s own conduct, like in the clip you showed from his really inexplicable statements in Helsinki. The things that we’ve learned about the president attending meetings with Vladimir Putin and insisting that no one else be present and trying to destroy the translator’s notes of those meetings after the fact. I mean these are very concerning and curious behaviors, these are behaviors that cause counterintelligence investigators to step back and ask themselves why. Why would a president act that way? … I think it’s certainly possible [that he may be compromised]. I mean that was our concern in May of 2017. I haven’t seen anything since May of 2017 that would warn me off of that possibility.
The case against Trump continues to build
As Andrew McCabe said on Wednesday, the evidence that Donald Trump was compromised by Russia and obstructing justice was already strong in 2017. It’s why the investigation was opened in the first place.
Over the course of the past two years, Trump has done nothing to tamp down these widespread concerns. If anything he has become more shameless in his praise of Vladimir Putin and more committed to derailing the Mueller investigation.
All of it has come amid a string of indictments, court filings, guilty pleas and endless lies from the Trump team about their contacts with Russia.
Donald Trump will likely continue to smear former intelligence officials like Andrew McCabe, but it’s his own behavior that has him, his family members and associates in Robert Mueller‘s sights.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
