Andrew McCabe Opened Trump Investigation A Day Before Rosenstein Announced Mueller’s Probe
Judicial Watch announced today it obtained a two-page memo, dated May 16, 2017, by then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe detailing how then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire into the Oval Office “to collect additional evidence on the president’s true intentions.” McCabe writes that Rosenstein said he thought it was possible because “he was not searched when he entered the White House.”
The memo, which is redacted in key sections, purports to serve as a “contemporaneous recollection” of a meeting that day (“12:30 pm on 5/16/2017”) in Rosenstein’s office. The meeting included Rosenstein, Deputy Assistant AG for Intelligence Tashina Gauhar and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Jim Crowell in Rosenstein’s Justice Department office. McCabe writes he began the meeting by telling Rosenstein that he “approved the opening of an investigation of President Donald Trump … to investigate allegations of possible collusion between the president and the Russian Government, possible obstruction of justice related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and possible conspiracy to obstruct justice.” In justifying his investigation, McCabe refers to the memos Comey secretly wrote on meetings he had with President Trump and an NBC interview with Lester Holt. McCabe writes he “informed DAG [Rosenstein] that as a result of his role in the matter, I thought he would be a witness to the case.”
Rosenstein responded by recounting his discussion with President Trump, then-Attorney General Sessions and then-White House Counsel Don McGahn about Comey’s imminent firing and that President Trump wanted him to write a “memo explaining the reason” for Comey’s firing. The full text of the redacted McCabe memo is printed below:
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
At 12:30 pm on 05/16/2017, I met with
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein in his office at the
Department of Justice. Also present were Tashina Gauhar and Jim Crowell.
The following is a contemporaneous recollection of the main topics we
discussed.
I began by telling him that today I
approved the opening of an investigation of President Donald Trump. I
explained that the purpose of the investigation was to investigate
allegations of possible collusion between the president and the Russian
Government, possible obstruction of justice related to the firing of FBI
Director James Comey, and possible conspiracy to obstruct justice. The
DAG questioned what I meant by collusion and I explained that I was
referring to the investigation of any potential links between the Trump
campaign and the Russian government. I explained that
counterintelligence investigations of this sort were meant to uncover
any existence of any threat to national security as well as whether or
not criminal conduct had occurred. Regarding the obstruction issues, I
made clear that our predication was based not only on the president’s
comments last week to reporter Lester Holt (that he connected the firing
of the director to the FBI’s Russia investigation), but also on the
several concurring comments the president made to Director Comey over
the last few months. These comments included the President’s requests
for assurances of loyalty, statements about the Russia investigation and
the investigation of General Michael Flynn. I also informed the DAG
that Director Comey preserved his recollection of these interactions in a
series of contemporaneously drafted memos. Finally, I informed the DAG
that as a result of his role in the matter, I thought he would be a
witness in the case.
The DAG then related his experiences at
the White House on Monday, 05/08/2017. He began by stating that he had
the feeling that the decision to fire the Director had been made before
he arrived. At the White House, he first met with White House Counsel
Donald McGahn, who told him that the President had drafted a letter to
Director Comey that McGahn did not want the President to send. Shortly
thereafter they met with the President and Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, and possibly others, in the Oval Office. President Trump told
the DAG he had written a letter to Director Comey, asked the DAG if he
had seen the letter, and instructed McGahn to provide the DAG with a
copy. The DAG described the letter to me as being a long list, possibly
several pages, of the President’s complaints with Director Comey. Among
those complaints was a discussion about the FBI’s Russia investigation,
as well as a paragraph about the FBI Deputy Director. The DAG indicated
to me that he retained a copy of the President’s letter. The DAG said he
told the President [redacted]. The President then directed the DAG to
write a memo explaining the reasoning for Director Comey’s termination
and that the DAG should include Russia. The DAG said to the President he
did not think this was a good idea and that his memo did not need to
include Russia. The President replied that he understood, but that he
was asking the DAG to include Russia anyway. As our conversation
continued the DAG proposed that he could potentially wear a recording
device into the Oval Office to collect additional evidence on the
President’s true intentions. He said he thought this might be possible
because he was not searched when he entered the White House. I told him
that I would discuss the opportunity with my investigative team and get
back to him.
We discussed the issue of appointing a
Special Counsel to oversee the FBI’s Russia investigation. The DAG said
he has two candidates ready one of whom could start immediately.
[Redacted] The DAG said that he left a copy of the delegation with
Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana Boente to
execute in the DAG’s absence if the DAG were suddenly removed from his
position. [Redacted] He anticipated that he may be terminated when he
puts the Special Counsel in place, in light of the president’s anger
with AG Sessions when the AG recused himself from the Russia
investigation. The DAG further stated that he was told that others heard
the President tell the AG “you were supposed to protect me.”
[Redacted]
The DAG related to me that on Sunday,
05/14/17, the AG asked him to participate in the interview of [redacted]
for the position of FBI Director. [Redacted].
The DAG told me that he informed the AG
that I should remain in my role as Acting Director until the permanent
Director was chosen. The DAG opined that my only “problem” was that some
people believe that I was involved in my wife’s 2015 campaign for State
Senate in Virginia. The DAG said it was a “credibility problem” because
after having told him during my May 13 interview that I played no role
in her campaign and attended no campaign events, the DAG said a staffer
had provided him with a photograph found on the internet of me and my
wife wearing Dr. Jill McCabe campaign t-shirts. The DAG suggested that
this photograph contradicted my statement that I had not campaigned for
my wife. I pointed out to the DAG that the photograph he saw was taken
not at a campaign event, but rather at [redacted] I further informed the
DAG that I confirmed with my ethics counsel at FBI that the Hatch Act
does not prohibit wearing a campaign button or shirt away from the
office, and that attending [redacted] wearing such a shirt does not
constitute proscribed political activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment