Andrew McCabe: President and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate

[bigtree]

Helen Kennedy @HelenKennedy 6m6 minutes ago
“President and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate.”

excerpt from book, 'The Threat' by Andrew G. McCabe, at the Atlantic:

____As requested, I went back to the White House that afternoon. The scene was almost identical to the one I had walked into the previous night. Trump was behind the Resolute desk. He lifted one arm and jutted it out, fingers splayed, directing me to take a seat in one of the little wooden chairs in front of him. Reince Priebus, then the chief of staff, and Don McGahn, then the White House counsel, were in the other chairs.

The president launched back into his speech about what a great decision it was to fire Jim Comey, how wonderful it was that the director was gone, because so many people did not like Comey, even hated him—the president actually used the word hate.

Eventually he changed the subject. He said that he wanted to come to FBI headquarters to see people and excite them and show them how much he loves the FBI. He pressed me to answer whether I thought it was a good idea. I said it was always a good idea to visit. I was trying to take some of the immediacy out of his proposal—to communicate that the door was always open, so that he wouldn’t feel he had to crash through it right away. I knew what a disaster it could turn out to be if he came to the Hoover Building in the near future. He pressed further, asking specifically, Do you think it would be a good idea for me to come down now? I said, Sure...

Then McGahn turned and looked at me. And Trump looked at me and asked, Is that what you’re telling me? Do you think it is a good idea?

In this moment, I felt the way I’d felt in 1998, in a case involving the Russian Mafia, when I sent a man I’ll call Big Felix in to meet with a Mafia boss named Dimitri Gufield. The same kind of thing was happening here, in the Oval Office. Dimitri had wanted Felix to endorse his protection scheme. This is a dangerous business, and it’s a bad neighborhood, and you know, if you want, I can protect you from that. If you want my protection. I can protect you. Do you want my protection? The president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate.

read: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/andrew-mccabe-fbi-book-excerpt-the-threat/582748/

from TPM:

In his first interview since his firing, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told CBS on “60 Minutes” about the measures he took to ensure that the obstruction of justice probe he ordered into President Donald Trump and his campaign wouldn’t “vanish in the night” if Trump fired him.

watch clip:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. "Big Felix"!! Hmmmmm. nt

[bigtree]

7. Sater?

...Russian-born, mob-connected.

Might just be an unfortunate name-choice/coincidence. Or....

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. Yeah, it is quite a coincidence. But on the other hand, I would expect

this man to be more discreet and not as obvious as to drop that name. But who knows at this point. This whole thing is a goddamn mess.

[spanone]

2. trump white house is a criminal enterprise....hands down

[dlk]

3. Given Trump's Long History of Mob Ties...

[Pepsidog]

4. Bannon was right, Comey firing one of the worst political mistakes ever and apparently we have

JarJar to thank. Thanks JarJar. Trump and his grandiose thinking that everyone hates Comey fails to understand that the “everyone” are Democrats who blame him for reopening the bogus email investigation that helped elect the dotard.

[bdamomma]

5. this interview with David Cay Johnston

is very informative and the mob connection that trump has among other things.

https://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/5/the_making_of_donald_trump_david

even reading the transcript below is a eye opener. We are dealing with a thug/criminal who is ruining our country with his band of minions.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Thank you for the david Cay transcript link.

I have heard him, but really prefer to read stuff, this is helpful.

Happy Heat Day!!

[mobeau69]

6. What a small, petty man rump is.

I just shake my head when I remind myself that this little worm is the president of The United States of America. Unfreakingbelievable.

[smirkymonkey]

10. +1000

*sigh*

I have to pinch myself every day. I can't believe this nightmare is our reality.

[vsrazdem]

9. Trump is a mob boss. It might be disorganized crime, but a mob boss nonetheless.

[Grasswire2]

12. get out and post more!

good characterization.

[klook]

13. Vividly written and chilling.

“How is your wife?” seems to contain a veiled threat: I know she’s in the Democrat Party. Be a shame if something happened to her... or to you.

On edit: McCabe did the country a great service by a) convincing Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel and b) ensuring that the investigation would be protected. And Rosenstein did a great thing by making the appointment and continuing to oversee it in a professional manner.

I still would not be surprised to see an attempt to end the investigation prematurely or to Deep-Six any report. But the actions of McCabe and Rosenstein have done a lot to safeguard the Mueller inquiry and its outcome.

[ck4829]

14. Kick