GOP lawmaker: McCabe’s firing ‘looks like retribution and a bit vindictive’

Republican Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.) said Saturday that the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Friday looked to be a “vindictive” move by the president.

In an interview with CNN, Dent said that while he would wait for the inspector general’s report to judge McCabe, his firing looked like retribution from the White House.

“This firing looks a bit forced, a bit rushed. Candidly, it looks like retribution and a bit vindictive,” Dent said. “And I think it’s unfortunate. The man said he’s resigning, you know, and on a Friday night before his 50th birthday he’s fired to take away his pension? I don’t like the optics of this, I really don’t.”

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Dent added that he believed Attorney General Jeff Sessions was “browbeaten” into firing McCabe Friday night after weeks of public humiliation from President Trump.

“It looks like the attorney general may have been browbeaten into this, he’s been publicly humiliated and shamed by the president on multiple occasions, and I just don’t think this bodes well.”

Sessions fired McCabe late Friday night, citing dual reports from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General that stated that McCabe improperly disclosed information to a news reporter and “lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”

“Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Sessions said.

McCabe, however, portrayed his firing as retribution for what he witnessed following the firing of FBI Director James Comey last year.

“Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey,” McCabe said in a statement.

McCabe, formerly the No. 2 official at the FBI, was a longtime target of Trump and Republicans in Congress over his wife’s campaign donations during a 2015 state Senate run from top Hillary Clinton ally former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).