DOJ Gives Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Retirement Benefits And Back Pay In Settlement
The Justice Department just agreed to restore full law enforcement benefits and attorney fees to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Trump feuded with McCabe, who was later found by the inspector general to have “lacked candor” when he was questioned about leaking to the Wall Street Journal, publicly before firing him.
Trump fired McCabe hours before his retirement three years ago. McCabe sued, arguing his dismissal violated his First Amendment rights. He also claimed he was the target of “years-long public vendetta” by Trump.
“I think the message that you get loud and clear from the terms of the settlement is that this never should have happened,” McCabe said. “It feels like complete vindication because that’s what it is.”
From NPR: The settlement talks intensified only after U.S. District Judge Randy Moss gave McCabe’s lawyers a green light to seek documents and testimony from former and current officials involved in the firing, including then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Trump had accused McCabe of conflicts of interest because McCabe‘s wife, Jill, ran without success for a seat in the Virginia state Senate and accepted contributions from party stalwart and then-Virginia Gov.
Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton. McCabe countered that he had run the arrangement past FBI lawyers and ethics officials.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz later examined McCabe’s conduct as part of a broader review of FBI activities in the election year of 2016.
Horowitz concluded that McCabe “lacked candor” when he spoke with investigators about disclosures he authorized to the Wall Street Journal during the heated presidential race.
Prosecutors brought the matter to a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., but McCabe was never charged with criminal wrongdoing.
He said the IG report was used by senior Justice Department officials as a “pretext” to dismiss him.
McCabe opened investigations into Trump after the former president fired then-FBI Director James Comey in the spring of 2017.
NEW: Looks like Andy McCabe and DOJ may have reached a settlement over his firing from the FBI. Suit had been in mediation since June. Now the parties have agreed to drop the case: https://t.co/mS6eOufF8l
— Andrew Goudsward (@AGoudsward) October 14, 2021
Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director who was fired under Donald Trump, won back his pension and other benefits after settling a lawsuit against the Justice Department in which he asserted that he was dismissed for political reasons. https://t.co/UFGNsbvgIT
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2021