Trump takes victory lap on McCabe firing: ‘A great day for democracy’

President Trump celebrated the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday on Twitter, calling it a “great day for Democracy.”

“Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI,” Trump tweeted hours after McCabe’s firing on Friday night.

“Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!” the president continued.

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe, who was set to retire on Sunday, for not being forthcoming with investigators during an inspector general review.

{mosads}

McCabe quickly struck back, saying he had been honest with investigators and that he was fired to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election interference, of which he is a potential witness.

Trump had repeatedly attacked McCabe, claiming that the former FBI official was biased against him and going after his wife’s connection to prominent Democrats. 

“FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!” Trump wrote in a tweet in late December amid news that McCabe would retire in the spring.

McCabe’s wife ran as a Democratic candidate for Virginia state Senate in 2015 and received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from a political group led by then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is closely tied to the Clintons.

McCabe noted Trump’s attacks in a statement after his firing.

“For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all,” McCabe said.

“He [Trump] called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us. No more,” he added.