Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Friday that, despite federal prosecutors saying he would not face charges on a years-old matter, he felt he would never be free of President Donald Trump’s “maniacal rage.”
“As long as this President is in the White House and these sorts of narratives are powerful to him, this will go on,” McCabe told CNN’s Brianna Keilar. (The former FBI deputy is himself a CNN contributor.)
An internal investigation found in 2018 that McCabe, who Trump has vilified over the years as a member of the “deep state,” lacked candor with investigators about leaks to the media that he authorized at the the FBI.
The Justice Department’s inspector general forwarded the findings for prosecutors, but the months went by with no criminal charges. Prosecutors finally informed McCabe Friday that none would be filed and the case was officially closed.
“To have that cloud lifted suddenly, it’s really hard to get your mind around it,” he said.
McCabe also commented on reporting that the lack of charges against him and others, including former FBI Director James Comey, had enraged Trump.
“I’m not disappointed that the President is angry today about this outcome,” McCabe said.
Still, McCabe pointed to the news Friday that Attorney General Bill Barr had selected prosecutors to go over the facts surrounding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s case; McCabe arranged the FBI interview that led to Flynn pleading guilty to lying to investigators about his Russian contacts.
“I don’t expect to ever be free of the mantle of investigation that clearly has been reinitiated to some degree today,” he said, adding later: “I don’t think I’ll ever be free of this President and his maniacal rage that he’s directed towards me and my wife since October of 2016 for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”
