Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in place of former FBI Director James Comey, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe refuted two main claims the White House has made about Comey’s firing and the investigation into allegations of collusion between Russian intelligence and associates of President Donald Trump.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) asked McCabe if it was accurate for the White House to say that the Russia investigation was “one of the smallest things on the plate of the FBI.”
“Sir, we consider it to be a highly significant investigation,” McCabe replied.
FBI's McCabe says Russia probe is "highly significant," refuting WH claims of it being a "small" investigation https://t.co/sQ0dZMLZ4p pic.twitter.com/mkh4N1xwPJ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 11, 2017
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Wednesday that the Russia investigation is “probably one of the smallest things that they’ve got going on their plate”:
In terms of whether or not Attorney General Sessions should have a role — look, the FBI is doing a whole lot more than the Russia investigation. I know everybody in this room and probably most of the media around the world would like to think that’s the FBI’s sole responsibility, but that’s probably one of the smallest things that they’ve got going on their plate, and the 20,000 employees that work there.
She also told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tuesday night that “it’s time to move on” from the Russia investigations.
“I think the bigger point on that is, my gosh, Tucker, when are they going to let that go? It’s been going on for nearly a year,” she said, according to The Hill. “Frankly, it’s kind of getting absurd. There’s nothing there. We’ve heard that time and time again. We’ve heard that in the testimonies earlier this week. We’ve heard it for the last 11 months. There is no ‘there’ there.”
Yet the investigation continues, to find out if there is a “there” there.
At the same hearing where McCabe took questions from King, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) asked, “Has the dismissal of Mr. Comey in any way impeded, stopped, or negatively impacted any of the work, any investigation, or any ongoing projects of the Federal Bureau of Investigations?”
“As you know, Senator, the work of the men and women of the FBI continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decisions, so there has been no effort to impede our investigation to date,” McCabe said. “Simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing, protecting the American people, and upholding the Constitution.”
McCabe told Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) that no one in the White House had spoken to him about the Russia investigation, including when he spoke to the president this week. Heinrich then turned to a key part of the White House’s justification for firing Comey: his alleged loss of confidence from rank-and-file FBI employees. Heinrich asked McCabe if it was accurate that the rank and file members of the FBI “no longer supported Director Comey.”
McCabe replied:
No sir. That is not accurate. I can tell you, sir, that I worked very, very closely with Director Comey. From the moment he started at the FBI, I was his executive assistant director of national security at the time, and then worked for him running the national field office, and of course I’ve served as deputy for the last year. I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard. I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity, and it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him. I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day.
While acknowledging that the FBI had a large diversity of opinions, he concluded: “I can confidently tell you that the vast majority of FBI employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey.”
This directly contradicts the White House’s official position, articulated by Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a briefing on May 10 (emphasis added):
The President, over the last several months, lost confidence in Director Comey. The DOJ lost confidence in Director Comey. Bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey. And most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly, the President accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney General to remove James Comey from his position.
McCabe said that he believed he had the adequate resources to conduct the Russia investigation.
Trump’s letter firing Comey says that Comey informed Trump “on three separate occasions” that Trump was not under investigation — conversations that would be counter to Justice Department policies preventing discussions of current investigations with White House officials.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked McCabe if it would have been wrong for Comey to inform the president that he was not under investigation. McCabe said that the FBI does not comment on those conversations. Wyden asked him if he, as acting director, “would refrain from these kinds of alleged updates,” and McCabe said that he would refrain from doing so.
“For as long as you are acting FBI Director, do you commit to informing this committee of any effort to interfere with the FBI’s ongoing investigation into links between Russia and the Trump campaign?” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) asked.
“I absolutely do,” McCabe replied.
UPDATE: This story has been updated to correct a typo — Sen. Heinrich represents New Mexico, not Nevada. We regret the error.