McCabe and Rosenstein each say other lied

FPI / June 5, 2020

In a classic "I know you are, but what am I" moment, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Wednesday took turns blaming one another for lying in the FBI's bogus investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign.

As Rosenstein, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was questioning McCabe's recollection of then-FBI Director James Comey’s memos about his interactions with President Donald Trump, McCabe was accusing Rosenstein of giving "false" testimony.

"Interestingly, both men accuse each other of lying, pointing the finger at one another, in one of the biggest hoaxes in modern political history," investigative journalist Sara Carter noted.

"They lied to each other, all the while creating a hoax to fool the American people and the world. McCabe and Rosenstein, along with their colleagues in the bureau, DOJ and the intelligence community know that eventually they will get caught up in the lies and explanations. This is when the finger-pointing will start."

Rosenstein's testimony comes as Attorney General William Barr has confirmed that U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators includes a thorough examination of the 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.

During the Senate hearing on Wednesday, Rosenstein said McCabe did not share details about Comey’s memos or his conversations with Trump prior to opening the special counsel investigation.

Rosenstein claimed that he didn’t know about the memos until they were leaked by Comey’s friend, Columbia Law School Professor Daniel Richman, to the media. Comey admitted to Congress during testimony in June 2017 that he purposefully leaked several memos to Richman in an effort to ensure a special counsel investigation.

“Lying is when you ask someone a direct question and get a false answer. Candor is when you’re forthcoming with information someone needs to know,” said Rosenstein. “I believe McCabe should have recognized that when I became acting AG (overseeing the Russia probe), I needed to know about Comey’s memos and he didn’t tell me until a couple of hours before they showed up in the New York Times.”

McCabe fired back, saying “Mr. Rosenstein’s claims to have been misled by me, or anyone from the FBI, regarding our concerns about President Trump and the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russia are completely false.”

“Mr. Rosenstein approved of, and suggested ways to enhance, our investigation of the President,” McCabe added. “Further, I personally briefed Mr. Rosenstein on Jim Comey’s memos describing his interactions with the President mere days after Mr. Rosenstein wrote the memo firing Jim Comey.”

“Mr. Rosenstein’s testimony is completely at odds with the factual record. It looks to be yet another sad attempt by the President and his men to rewrite the history of their actions in 2017. They have found in Mr. Rosenstein – then and now – a willing accessory in that effort,” McCabe said.

Carter noted: "Now the investigators are being investigated. Former FBI Director Comey, FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka, FBI Special Agent Kevin Clinesmith, as well as a slew of other FBI agents, lawyers and intelligence officials are going to have to find a way to explain their malfeasance as Connecticut prosecutor John Durham continues to put the pieces together and connect the dots."

Free Press International