Anderw McCabe firing divides right from the left, CNN calls Trump a dictator, Duke paper calls Sessions a ‘Nazi’
The divide between right and left continued over the weekend in the wake of Andrew McCabe’s firing. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired the former FBI Deputy late Friday, less than two days shy of his retirement, following the findings from the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) showing misconduct by McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). misleading internal investigators at the Justice Department.
photo/ Pete Linforth via Pixabay
“The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe,” the statement by Sessions stated. “Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor—including under oath—on multiple occasions.”
The current head of the OIG, Michael Horowitz, was appointed by President Barack Obama and is himself a former career Justice Department lawyer. As Jack Goldsmith noted, the inspector general has a great deal of statutory independence, which Horowitz has not hesitated to use, producing the critical 2012 report on the DOJ’s “Fast and Furious” program.
Horowitz’s office provided a report on McCabe’s conduct to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which investigates allegations of misconduct against bureau employees. This office is headed by career Justice Department official Candace Will, whom then-FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed to lead the OPR in 2004. According to Sessions, the Office of Professional Responsibility agreed with Horowitz’s assessment that McCabe “lacked candor” in speaking to internal investigators.
McCabe said his firing is part of a larger effort to discredit the FBI and the special counsel’s investigation.
“This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally,” McCabe said. “It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.”
President Trump turned to Twitter:
“Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”
CNN wasted no time attacking Trump and his administration.
“If the firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday night felt like something you’d see in a third-world dictatorship, you aren’t alone,” CNN writer Dean Obeidallah began in his post.
“A great day for democracy?! Not even close. That tweet was more akin to a dictator warning others that if they dare contradict him or not show him the loyalty he demands, they will meet a similar fate.”
The Duke Chronicle reported to Duke University students this pointed to “ending democracy”, likening Sessions to a Nazi:
Germans had a joke about Nazi leadership: the perfect Aryan is tall like the diminutive Hitler, blonde like the black-haired Goebbels, and fit like the corpulent Goering. Historically, administrations which don’t practice what they preach are up to nothing good.
The circumstances of this dismissal wreak of all things dictatorial. This firing comes amidst political attacks against law enforcement officers who are simply doing their jobs….
What happened in Washington on Friday night is not just another firing in a string of firings: it is another step away from democracy and towards corruption.
