Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Tuesday he believes “it’s possible” that President Trump is working on behalf of the Russian government.
“I think it’s possible. I think that’s why we started our investigation, and I’m really anxious to see where [special counsel Robert] Mueller concludes that,” McCabe said when asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if Trump could be a Russian asset.
{mosads}The comment comes after McCabe admitted he opened an investigation into whether Trump was acting at Moscow’s behest after the president fired former FBI Director James Comey, adding that none of the top eight congressional leaders objected when he briefed them in 2017.
He also revealed last week that senior officials discussed the possibility of removing Trump under the 25th Amendment and that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered numerous times to secretly record his conversations with the president.
McCabe, who was fired from the FBI shortly before his retirement, has repeatedly excoriated the president since his dismissal. He has also become one of the president’s favorite targets on Twitter, with Trump frequently slamming McCabe over alleged misconduct and suggesting it proves a wider conspiracy against him in the Justice Department.
The former FBI official is currently on a book tour promoting “The Threat,” which details his time in the FBI and his work with officials at the White House and DOJ. He is also under criminal investigation for misleading federal prosecutors in their probe into the FBI’s handling of the investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
— Updated Feb. 20 at 7:00 p.m.