A Bitter-Sweet Ending: McCabe’s Unprecedented Firing Opens a Can of Worms for Trump’s Administration

The recent firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was truly unprecedented, considering it happened 24 hours before his retirement.

America is shocked

Announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the event truly shocked the nation. What was the reason for the untimely termination? According to the offices of the FBI, as well as the Inspector General of the Justice Department, Mr. McCabe had executed an unpermitted disclosure to media stations; and lacking candor in the process. It was claimed that he had done this on multiple occasions while under oath.

Mr. McCabe had served in quite a number of senior roles in the FBI, at one time serving as the interim FBI director

Based on these findings, Mr. McCabe’s employment was then terminated with immediate effect. Unfortunately, the move will inadvertently cost McCabe a major portion of the retirement benefits that he was poised to receive. However, it is still possible for him to go to court and challenge that decision.

The whistling wind before the hurricane

In fact, Mr. McCabe had been viciously struggling to keep his job, spending a ton of time inside the offices of the Justice Department; purportedly pleading his case.

In an overly long statement, Mr. McCabe’s attorney, Michael R. Bromwich quipped that he had never in his life seen such a rushed judgment and punishment assigned so ruthlessly to someone. One of the things he stressed on was the repeated attacks that President Trump had made on McCabe on Twitter. It was crystal clear for the attorney that these were attacks were geared to put intense pressure on the Attorney General to take preemptive steps to have McCabe fired.

Mr. Bromwich continued to state that such an action by the White House to intervene in the DOJ disciplinary happenings was quite dangerous, unfair, and unprecedented in the history of the United States.

The Trump effect

In the past couple of months, McCabe has been in the line of fire involving political battles with regard to high-profile cases attached to the FBI. This includes the alleged Russian investigation as well as the controversial probe into the email malpractices of former First Lady, Hillary Clinton. In fact, McCabe has been the target of criticism and has been repeatedly thrown under the bus by President Trump.

According to the information present, his firing comes as a result of a recent general investigation by a Justice Department inspector. Apparently, the investigation had revealed that McCabe had permitted the release of subtle information to the media concerning the Clinton-email scandal. They claim that the information was geared to mislead investigators about his involvement and actions in the scandal. In fact, McCabe had initially stepped down from the office of Deputy FBI Director, though he was initially still an active employee.

McCabe and President Trump have not had the rosiest of relationships, with the president accusing him of being a supporter and donator of Hillary Clinton’s initial presidential campaign

Paper Over the Cracks

In response to his firing, McCabe conducted a number of interviews with multiple media stations and even stated to the New York Times that the allegations made against him were perpetrated so as to discredit him as a viable witness with regard to the probe raised by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into the alleged Trump campaign collaborating with Russia to determine the 2016 presidential election.

Despite his strong words, McCabe went on to turn down an interview with The Washington Post.

His attorney, Mr. Bromwich, went on record stating that McCabe was treated unfairly, and not given an adequate timeframe to effectively respond to the numerous allegations being hurled his way. What’s even more surprising was the limited access that McCabe’s lawyers were given to assess the previous month’s general draft report; substantial evidence that high powers were puppeteering the strings over the allegations as well as his termination.

McCabe was fired 24 hours before he could be eligible for retirement benefits, which raises questions as to whether this was a calculated plan to sort of ‘punish’ him by the lead administration

In fact, the Trump and McCabe relationship has been a classic case of the push and pull effect. The president has, on a number of occasions, called out the deputy director for being a Clinton supporter, with biased actions taken to favor the former Secretary of State.

Whatever the case might be, McCabe was fired 24 hours before turning 50, and would have been qualified for the whole package of retirement benefits. Which raises questions as to whether his termination was a clear statement to ‘teach him a lesson?’ Only time will tell. In the meantime, America will patiently wait and see.