In 2015 Governor McAuliffe handpicked Jill McCabe, wife of the current Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, to run against Dick Black in state senate district 13. Some of you may remember that the Democrat Party of Loudoun County had already chosen Colonel Tom Mulrine to represent them against Senator Black. McAuliffe had other ideas and he installed Jill McCabe without allowing a primary or any discussion. Some Democrats in Loudoun took offense at the Governor’s heavy-handed approach to choosing their candidates. We reported on the story here.
Jill McCabe went on to run in the 13th district with the support of her husband, Andrew McCabe.
Despite the financial backing of Governor McAuliffe and his buddies the Clintons, McCabe lost. Senator Black was outspent by almost a million dollars and he still won by 5%.
Fast forward to today on Capitol Hill where Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gave the opening remarks at the hearing for Christopher Wray to become the Director of the FBI. In those remarks, Senator Grassley talked about Andrew McCabe, the current Acting Director of the FBI.
At the FBI oversight hearing on May 3, I said that a cloud of doubt hangs over the FBI’s objectivity. The previous director, James Comey, said that the people at the FBI don’t give a rip about politics. But, Mr. Comey installed as his Deputy Director a man whose wife ran for Virginia State Senate and accepted almost a million dollars from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s political machine. That’s a lot of money for one state Senate seat.
Gov. McAuliffe is a longtime friend and fundraiser for the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Deputy Director Andrew McCabe met in person with Gov. McAuliffe about his wife’s political plans. His official FBI biography was used in setting up the meeting and the goal was for McAuliffe to “close the deal” and get his wife to run for office. The Office of Special Counsel is reviewing whether that coordination was a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits partisan political coordination by FBI officials. The Inspector General is reviewing whether Mr. McCabe should have been recused from the Clinton investigation based upon Mr. McCabe’s financial ties to the Clinton political network.
Mr. McCabe was also named in a sex discrimination lawsuit by a female FBI agent who alleged retaliation. Just last week, it was reported that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn wrote a letter in support of the female agent. That means Lt. Gen. Flynn is an adverse witness to Mr. McCabe in a pending proceeding. Yet, Mr. McCabe supervised a criminal investigation of Flynn, and allegedly wanted it pursued very aggressively. According to press reports, three FBI employees personally witnessed McCabe make disparaging remarks about Flynn before and during the Russia investigation. Yet, Mr. McCabe never recused himself from the Flynn investigation. His failure to do so calls into question whether he has handled that investigation fairly and objectively. I have asked the Inspector General to add this to their ongoing review.
It sounds like Andrew McCabe shouldn’t be anywhere near the FBI much less Acting Director!
Senator Grassley’s full remarks at the hearing today:
