DOJ watchdog sends criminal referral for McCabe to federal prosecutor
The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has sent a criminal referral for fired FBI official Andrew McCabe to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.
The move follows a recent DOJ inspector general report that found McCabe leaked a self-serving story to the press and later lied about it to then-Director James Comey and federal investigators, prompting Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire him on March 16.
A source confirmed to Fox News that the referral was sent.
The Washington Post reported earlier that the IG referred the finding that McCabe misled investigators "some time ago," asking the top federal prosecutor for D.C. to examine whether he should be charged.
Representatives with the Justice Department, inspector general’s office and U.S. attorney’s office all declined to comment.
Republican Rep. Mark Meadows backed the move in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
"The criminal referral from the IG is the right decision. It's about time we have some accountability for this type of conduct at the Justice Department," he said.
On Wednesday, Comey also publicly acknowledged he was the one who prompted the probe and seemed to back the investigation’s findings.
The fired FBI director addressed his former colleague's controversies during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” after being pressed on how the public was supposed to have “confidence” in the bureau after revelations that ex-deputy director McCabe lied about the leak.
“It’s not okay. The McCabe case illustrates what an organization committed to the truth looks like,” Comey said. “I ordered that investigation.”
Comey seemed to defend McCabe's character even while backing the DOJ inspector general probe's findings.
“Good people lie. I think I’m a good person, where I have lied,” Comey said. “I still believe Andrew McCabe is a good person but the inspector general found he lied.”
While Comey may not have intentionally launched the investigation gunning for McCabe, it was spurred by a desire to find who leaked to The Wall Street Journal in October 2016 about an FBI probe of the Clinton Foundation. The story said a senior Justice Department official expressed displeasure to McCabe that FBI agents were still looking into the Clinton Foundation, and McCabe had defended agents' authority to pursue the issue.
That leak confirmed the existence of the probe into the Clinton Foundation, which Comey, who led the bureau at the time, refused to do.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report said McCabe authorized the leak and then misled investigators about it, leaking in a way that did not fall under the “public interest” exception.
Horowitz found that McCabe lacked “candor” when questioned by FBI agents on multiple occasions, and that he told agents he did not authorize the disclosure and did not know who was responsible.
But McCabe’s legal counsel, Michael Bromwich, has blasted the inspector general report and has criticized Comey. The report said Comey and McCabe gave conflicting accounts about a conversation they had on the leak.
“The OIG should credit Mr. McCabe’s account over Director Comey’s,” Bromwich wrote to Horowitz in a letter, complaining that the report “paints Director Comey as a white knight carefully guarding FBI information, while overlooking that Mr. McCabe’s account is more credible…”
He issued a similar statement Wednesday in response to Comey's interview comments:
"In his comments this week about the McCabe matter, former FBI Director James Comey has relied on the accuracy and the soundness of the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) conclusions in their report on Mr. McCabe. In fact, the report fails to adequately address the evidence (including sworn testimony) and documents that prove that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey repeatedly that he was working with the Wall Street Journal on the stories in question prior to publication. Neither Mr. Comey nor the OIG is infallible, and in this case neither of them has it right."
On Wednesday, nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress sent their own criminal referral to the Justice Department and FBI seeking an investigation of McCabe, along with Comey, ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and others.
The IG referral, however, could represent a more serious problem for McCabe.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/19/doj-watchdog-reportedly-sends-criminal-referral-for-mccabe-to-federal-prosecutor.html
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McCabe lied 4 times. Three times to the FBI and once under oath. Lies & leaks coming from the top men at the FBI.
Equal Justice under the law requires that McCabe be prosecuted otherwise the President should pardon Mike Flynn.
Isn't lying to the FBI one of the charges that were brought down by the Meuller "investigation" on somebody? Isn't that something that charge the left is celebrating as a "victory" in the now failed collusion investigation?
Yup, McCabe has to get what Flynn got. It means we are all equal under the law. Something progressives don't agree with.
Not in the least.
Serious problem for McCabe. No one can call this a political partisan attack if it comes from the IG. Looks like he'll have bigger problems than a lost pension.
In my opinion??? Get ready folks - "criminal referral to the Justice Department and FBI seeking an investigation of McCabe, along with Comey, ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton and others" - some grave dancing getting ready to be done.