McCabe didn't retire—he was 'removed'

By Mark Sumner 
Monday Jan 29, 2018 · 1:52 PM EST

If the departure of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Monday morning came as a surprise to the public, it was apparently also a surprise to Andrew McCabe. CNN is reporting this early departure was anything but voluntary.

Steve Brusk
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@stevebruskCNN
From our Justice team One source said FBI Deputy Director McCabe's  departure was not in the plans as of Friday.  The source said McCabe was told this morning to step down.  A second source described McCabe’s departure as being “removed”.
1:09 PM - Jan 29, 2018
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Removing a long-serving member of the FBI like McCabe without cause would be not just extraordinary, but unprecedented. McCabe was already scheduled to leave by Mid-March. That Christopher Wray came into his office on Monday morning to tell him he was leaving right away, no option, is either a signal of some new information concerning McCabe—or a signal that Donald Trump is simply no longer following any sort of legal protocol when it comes to getting rid of people who haven’t agreed to a personal pledge of loyalty.

There was apparently no warning from Wray, and no warning for those who work with and around McCabe. The situation at the FBI remains chaotic as it now seems that Trump is willing to fire anyone, at any time. McCabe was a career agent who worked his way up through the agency over two decades. The idea that he could be dismissed on the spur of the moment solidifies the idea that Trump views the FBI not as a law-enforcement agency, but as a tool he can use to assault his enemies.

Considering recent news that Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller and that Trump tried to force out Rod Rosenstein, pushing McCabe out the door weeks before his planned retirement would seem both patently spiteful and even dangerous—but also exactly the kind of thing that Trump would do.

What’s being painted as a “mutual decision” appears to be an abrupt, and direct, forced removal.

Source
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/29/1736891/-McCabe-didn-t-retire-he-was-removed?detail=facebook