Trump Uses Twitter To Criticize FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe : NPR
Andrew McCabe
Trump Uses Twitter To Criticize FBI   Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
President Trump  is once again lashing out at the FBI  mounting a Twitter attack against Deputy Director Andrew McCabe  who's planning to retire soon.
 President Trump  is celebrating Christmas in Florida  but Washington is still clearly very much on  his  mind.  He  took a few moments out of  his  break to take aim at a frequent target of  his  lately  the FBI. NPR's justice reporter Ryan Lucas has been following this and joins us now. Hey  Ryan.
FRAYER: Trump's been going after  one man in particular  Deputy Director Andrew McCabe . What can you tell us about  McCabe ?
LUCAS: Well   McCabe  is a career FBI official.  He 's been at the bureau for more than 20 years.  He  rose up through the ranks  worked a number of mob cases in New York City early on in  his  career before  he  shifted more to counterterrorism work.  He 's held senior positions at the Washington field office  at FBI headquarters in Washington.  He  was named deputy director by James Comey in January of 2016. This is the No. 2 position at the bureau. So  McCabe  was overseeing domestic and international investigations  which gave  him  a central role  of course  into the biggest and most high-profile cases of late. That would be the Clinton email server investigation and the Russia probe.  He  also  you may remember famously  stepped in as acting director after Comey was fired in May. And  McCabe  is expected to retire early next year when  he 's eligible for  his  full pension  and that's been the plan for some time.
FRAYER: So why is Trump then taking aim at  McCabe  on Twitter like he is?
LUCAS: That's right. Yes. Now  the FBI says  McCabe  cleared everything with ethics folks at the bureaus. Everything was above board. And also  McCabe  didn't become deputy director until after that election. But still  Republicans have suggested that it may have tainted  McCabe 's decision-making in the Clinton probe. And all of this  of course  is part of a broader pattern from the president and his allies of  you know  disparaging remarks directed at the FBI and the Justice Department  alleging political bias in the upper ranks of the bureau in particular and by extension  of course  with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team conducting the Russia investigation.
LUCAS: That's very much so.  McCabe  was dragged up to Capitol Hill twice last week.  He  spent around eight hours testifying behind closed doors for the House Intelligence Committee. That was about Russia. And  he  spent a little more than eight hours with the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees a few days later talking about the Clinton matter.
LUCAS: Well  it's not a position that the bureau wants to be in. It was in the middle of the political fight in 2016  and that's continued into 2017. And there's a lot of pressure from Republicans to clean house in the senior ranks at the FBI. That's made life difficult for Christopher Wray. But one source has told me that there's not a lot of appetite at the bureau to bend to that pressure and dump  McCabe  before  he 's set to retire.
Trump Uses Twitter To Criticize FBI   Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
President Trump  is once again lashing out at the FBI  mounting a Twitter attack against Deputy Director Andrew McCabe  who's planning to retire soon.
 President Trump  is celebrating Christmas in Florida  but Washington is still clearly very much on  his  mind.  He  took a few moments out of  his  break to take aim at a frequent target of  his  lately  the FBI. NPR's justice reporter Ryan Lucas has been following this and joins us now. Hey  Ryan.
FRAYER: Trump's been going after  [TGT] . What can you tell us about  [TGT] ?
LUCAS: Well   [TGT]is a career FBI official.  [TGT] 's been at the bureau for more than 20 years.  [TGT]  rose up through the ranks  worked a number of mob cases in New York City early on in  [TGT]  career before  [TGT]  shifted more to counterterrorism work.  [TGT] 's held senior positions at the Washington field office  at FBI headquarters in Washington.  [TGT]  was named deputy director by James Comey in January of 2016. This is the No. 2 position at the bureau. So  [TGT]was overseeing domestic and international investigations  which gave  [TGT]  a central role  of course  into the biggest and most high-profile cases of late. That would be the Clinton email server investigation and the Russia probe.  [TGT]  also  you may remember famously  stepped in as acting director after Comey was fired in May. And  [TGT]is expected to retire early next year when  [TGT] 's eligible for  [TGT]  full pension  and that's been the plan for some time.
FRAYER: So why is Trump then taking aim at  [TGT]on Twitter like [TGT] is?
LUCAS: That's right. Yes. Now  the FBI says  [TGT]cleared everything with ethics folks at the bureaus. Everything was above board. And also  [TGT]didn't become deputy director until after that election. But still  Republicans have suggested that it may have tainted  [TGT] 's decision-making in the Clinton probe. And all of this  of course  is part of a broader pattern from the president and his allies of  you know  disparaging remarks directed at the FBI and the Justice Department  alleging political bias in the upper ranks of the bureau in particular and by extension  of course  with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team conducting the Russia investigation.
LUCAS: That's very much so.  [TGT]was dragged up to Capitol Hill twice last week.  [TGT]  spent around eight hours testifying behind closed doors for the House Intelligence Committee. That was about Russia. And  [TGT]  spent a little more than eight hours with the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees a few days later talking about the Clinton matter.
LUCAS: Well  it's not a position that the bureau wants to be in. It was in the middle of the political fight in 2016  and that's continued into 2017. And there's a lot of pressure from Republicans to clean house in the senior ranks at the FBI. That's made life difficult for Christopher Wray. But one source has told me that there's not a lot of appetite at the bureau to bend to that pressure and dump  [TGT]before  [TGT] 's set to retire.