Andrew McCabe
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton blasted the Justice Department on Thursday for their indecision on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Walton, a George W. Bush appointee said, “This is not a hard case. I was a good prosecutor for a long time. Deciding whether or not you’re going to charge someone with false statements or perjury is not that hard, factually or legally — maybe politically, but not factually or legally.”
The hearing Thursday stemmed from a FOIA lawsuit filed by far-left watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to obtain documents related to McCabe’s firing.
Recall, McCabe was fired in March of 2018 just hours before he was set to retire with full benefits and one month later, IG Horowitz released a scathing report on McCabe saying he ‘lacked candor’ (lied) several times, including under oath.
Thursday’s hearing centered on a curious reversal by the DOJ, who for one year maintained that most of the documents sought in the FOIA suit were off-limits because of an ongoing investigation and decision-making on potential charges against McCabe.
On Wednesday, DOJ prosecutors reversed course and announced they would no longer argue the documents requested in the FOIA suit in McCabe’s case be withheld because of a pending proceeding.
This reversal made the federal judge very angry and left people wondering if this means McCabe is off the hook.
Politico reported:
Walton, a George W. Bush appointee overseeing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by a watchdog group to obtain records about McCabe’s firing, complained at a hearing Thursday afternoon that the Justice Department claims about an ongoing potential prosecution of McCabe may have been a “smoke screen” to persuade the judge to forestall the case demanding documents.
“Your Honor, the wool was not being pulled over your eyes,” Justice Department attorney Justin Sandberg said. He insisted claims lawyers made in a secret court filing and closed-door audience with the judge in September were accurate.
When Walton pressed about what has changed since, Sandberg was exceedingly vague.
“Obviously, you know that time has passed. There’s various proceedings the government has to consider and various interests the government has to consider,” the Justice Department attorney said.
Walton said something must have precipitated the shift.
“I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors as far as the … potential prosecution of Mr. McCabe is concerned. … Something must’ve happened,” the judge said.
Judge Walton ultimately ordered the DOJ to begin releasing the McCabe docs requested by the watchdog group.
US Attorney Jessie Liu formally recommended pursuing criminal charges against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe TWO MONTHS AGO.
The potential criminal charges against McCabe are related to his false statements to feds in the FBI’s investigation into Hilary Clinton.
The potential indictment of McCabe stems from the Inspector General’s findings that the FBI official lied to federal investigators.
McCabe was criminally referred to the US Attorneys office for prosecution in the Spring of 2018 and they are finally getting around to (maybe) indicting him.
The process has been dragged out because of internal deliberations and the case is taking so long that the term expired for the grand jury evidence. One of the lead prosecutors on the case has since left the DOJ out of frustration, according to the NYT.
The New York Times reported that McCabe’s lawyers met with Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who is involved in the decision whether to prosecute the former FBI official.
McCabe said earlier Thursday that he still doesn’t know the status of the criminal investigation he is facing and he wasn’t sure what to make of the DOJ’s reversal in the FOIA case.
“There’s certainly different ways you can interpret it,” McCabe told CNN’s John Berman. “I am still waiting to be told directly by the Justice Department that they have abandoned this completely baseless effort to try to charge me. I, of course, have not done anything wrong and … I’ll be happy to get that call if and when it comes.”
What is taking so long?? Why hasn’t McCabe been indicted?
