Posted on 04/20/2017 5:27:12 AM PDT by Whenifhow
A top FBI official whose wife received political donations from an ally of Hillary Clinton’s last year does not need to recuse himself from the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation, the bureau said Wednesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee inquired last month about FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s role on the Trump probe, which is looking into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley had expressed concerns about a potential conflict of interest given that McCabe’s wife ran a state campaign in Virginia that received $700,000 from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close friend of Clinton’s.
[ ]
Grassley noted in a March 28 letter to FBI Director James Comey that the McCabes met with McAuliffe on March 7, 2015, several days after the story broke that Clinton used a private email server as secretary of state.
[ ]
In the response letter to Grassley, FBI Assistant Director Gregory Bower both confirmed that McCabe is involved in the Trump investigation and denied that a recusal was necessary.
“With respect to the questions you raised regarding Mr. McCabe recusing himself from participation in this investigation, the FBI has assessed that there is no basis in law or in fact for such a recusal,” Bower wrote.
“As the Deputy Director of the FBI, Mr. McCabe is ultimately responsible for supervising all of the FBI’s investigative activities, including the investigation referenced in your letter,” he continued, adding that McCabe has been involved in the investigation since its inception.
It is believed that the FBI opened the Trump-Russia investigation last July. As part of the probe, the bureau obtained a federal surveillance warrant to monitor the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign policy adviser. Former Trump campaign advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone are also reportedly being investigated.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Vested interest? What vested interest?
Only Republicans need to recuse themselves- before they find out it was all democrats that messed with the elections.
Democrats can stay on the investigation, so they can help with the cover-ups.
Trump should fire McCabe.
Trump is going to rue the day that he left Comey and the FBI alone to be, in effect, an independent branch of the government.
What hubris
Something funky is going on with chaffetz...why announce now that he is not running again
Hard to believe Trump hasn’t relieved McCabe of his duties yet. McCabe and his cronies are out to take down Trump. Got to say, at this point in his presidency, Trump has been disappointing in draining the swamp. Too many Obama holdovers still around.
Just saw senior republican says chaffetz may not even finish out term...something big must be coming out on him
I agree. He should fire the whole front tier of that ‘organization.’ To my mind the only ‘organization’ with respect to it is the “O” in RICO (Act).
I could be wrong, but a while back I heard Chaffetz couldn’t pass a high level security check.
Comey
He answers to Comey and Comey has 6 years to go. McCabe was promoted last year. It looks as though Trump is stuck with them because they “hold the work product” (sic numerous articles) on all on-going investigations, which are also distributed through various field offices, as some investigations are into State or municipality-controlled actions.
I heard via interviews weeks ago that none of the Cabinet-level agencies/departments/directorates have the ability to fire for cause. Everything goes through a process that involves separate divisions only charged with evaluating work performance. This was revealed during Congressional hearings into SS misbehavior.
Evidently, judging from events, only US Attorneys can be summarily asked to resign/fired.
It sucks, but Trump and Sessions must know more than we do, so for now, I’ll wait and see what they do.
Comey is an appointee, so he serves at the pleasure of the president. Trump could fire him tomorrow.
If McCabe requires confirmation, then he also serves at the pleasure of the president.
Only Republicans need to recuse themselves- before they find out it was all democrats that messed with the elections.
Democrats can stay on the investigation, so they can help with the cover-ups.
Ain’t that the truth.
The lack of action on any of the obvious crimes...McCabe, Comey, Clinton, Rice, etc, etc, etc.........is absolutely nuts.
It makes no sense until you consider one possibility:
Almost everyone is so dirty in Washington, Repubs and Dems alike, and they all know so much about each other’s transgressions, that you cannot bring down one without bringing down almost everyone. Its the political version of the 1970s nuclear strategy....MAD....Mutually Assured Destruction.
This is why I keep saying that NO ONE WILL BE PUNISHED. Trump is probably white and clean as the driven snow. But if he tries anything, he will be impeached and removed from office (if not outright assassinated) by the over 2/3 of the House and Senate that are guilty of Felonies and Treason.
So, get used to disappointment. Our congress is FAR more corrupt than we even imagined. And this is what it looks like.
That is the “Occam’s Razor” explanation for what is going on.
Rumor is that russia is blackmailing him and fbi found out about it.
He chairs a powerful committee. Power hungry dc swamp dont just give up in the middle of their term unless something dirty is going on behind scenes
So Grassley had concerns and did what?
That doddering old asshole can’t die soon enough. It’s the only way to get these creeps out of office.
Washington, D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
March 3, 2017
Gregory A. Brower Named Assistant Director for the Office of Congressional Affairs
FBI Director James B. Comey has named Gregory A. Brower as the assistant director for the Office of Congressional Affairs. Mr. Brower entered on duty with the FBI in 2016, and previously served as deputy general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel.
Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Brower served in the Department of Justice as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada and as the legislative counsel in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.
Mr. Brower has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching national security law and trial advocacy at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Mr. Brower is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and The George Washington University Law School. Before attending law school, Mr. Brower served in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer.
Mr. Brower will assume this new role in early March.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.