McCabe cites talk about ousting Trump

WASHINGTON — Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview aired Thursday that top Justice Department officials became so alarmed by Donald Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire James Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

The concerns about Trump’s actions also prompted McCabe to order the bureau’s team investigating Russia’s election interference to look into whether the president had obstructed justice by firing Comey.

The FBI also began examining whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.

McCabe’s remarks were made in an interview with “60 Minutes” scheduled to air in full Sunday. He was promoting his memoir, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” which will be released next week.

McCabe said he spoke to Trump just after Comey was fired, and the next day he met with the team investigating Russia’s election interference.

“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion,” McCabe said. “That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”

On the eve of his retirement in March 2018, McCabe was fired by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions citing lack of candor.

Trump appeared to react to the interview, attacking McCabe via Twitter, calling him a “disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country.”

As a clip from the interview with Scott Pelley was released, Pelley said on “CBS This Morning” that McCabe had confirmed a New York Times report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosen-stein had suggested wearing a wire in meetings with Trump and that Justice Department officials discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

“There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said. “These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president.”

McCabe is the first person involved in these meetings who has spoken publicly about them.

In a statement released Thursday morning after the interview with Pelley, a Justice Department spokeswoman said: “The deputy attorney general again rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect.”