McCabe: Trump ‘may have’ committed a crime in blocking Russia probe

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is suggesting that a “crime may have been committed” by President Trump due to his attempts to stop a Russia probe.

In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, McCabe said the potential crime stemmed from Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey in 2017 and public attempts to try and undermine an investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.

{mosads}“And the idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia’s malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, “Why would a president of the United States do that?” McCabe said in the interview.

The former FBI official, who was fired by the Trump administration on the eve of his retirement, also said the FBI had a legitimate reason to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia. He added that current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was on board with the investigations, telling interviewers: “Absolutely.”

“So, all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia?” McCabe said.

McCabe pointed to a series of comments from Trump, including tweets, that suggested Russia was at the heart of his decision to fire Comey. He said those comments, as well as Trump’s request that the FBI end an investigation into Michael Flynn, his first national adviser, worried the agency that the president was trying to obstruct the Russia probe.

“Put together, these circumstances were articulable facts that indicated that a crime may have been committed,” McCabe told “60 Minutes.” “The president may have been engaged in obstruction of justice in the firing of Jim Comey.”

McCabe’s interview comes as the former FBI official released his book last week, a controversial tale of his time at the agency and overseeing investigations into Trump.

Trump has pushed back at many of McCabe’s claims made in the book and subsequent interviews.

Trump tweeted about McCabe early Monday: “Wow so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged.”