Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said the Trump administration’s FBI has not contacted him at all about the indictment of his former supervisor, ex-FBI Director James Comey.
“I have not been contacted. I haven’t been interviewed. They have not asked to interview me,” McCabe told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.
A federal grand jury indicted Comey on two of three counts sought by federal prosecutors on Thursday. The indictment, on counts of making false statements and obstruction of justice, rests on a 2020 testimony in which Comey made comments before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.
Comey stated in his testimony that he never authorized media leaks about Bureau investigations, but McCabe has reportedly contradicted Comey’s account.
McCabe said he was surprised prosecutors did not reach out before the indictment and said Comey’s “indictment really has no facts in it whatsoever”.
“If my interactions with Jim Comey nine years ago in October 2016 was going to be the basis of this entire prosecution, it’s unbelievable to think that prosecutors wouldn’t at least want to sit down and hear what I had to say about it,” McCabe said.
McCabe said he never asked Comey to authorize a media closure, adding he already possessed the authority to do so.
“I never asked Jim Comey to authorize any disclosure to the media because I didn’t have to. At that time, in the FBI, there was only two people who had the authority to make that decision independently: one was Jim Comey and the other was me,” McCabe said.
Democrats have said Comey’s indictment is an example of President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on his political enemies.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Sept. 20, directly addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi about Comey saying, “Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.’”
Trump’s Department of Justice is also investigating several government officials, with whom Trump has publicly feuded, over alleged mortgage fraud, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
Republican lawmakers have struck back against the idea that Trump is using the DOJ to prosecute his political enemies.
NBC‘s Kristen Welker asked Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) on Sunday whether or not he believed the DOJ was acting independently with Comey’s prosecution.
“It’s based upon the findings of a grand jury, Kristen,” Thune said. “I trust the judicial system and the justice system to figure this out, obviously, they’re going to have the final say in it.”
TRUMP PREVIEWS ‘THERE’LL BE OTHERS’ AFTER COMEY INDICTMENT
Thune said the topics the indictment deals with are not new, referring to the 2020 Senate Judiciary investigation.
“There will be a process. He will have his day in court, and if he is innocent of the charges, then I am sure that they will be thrown out,” Thune said.
