WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe responded to President Donald Trump arguing that he is guilty of “treason” for his role in the Russia and Trump campaign collusion probe, saying “it’s outrageous.”

“I can’t describe for you how impactful it is to see the president of the United States mention your name in the same sentence as treason and the death penalty,” McCabe said last week during an MSNBC segment focused on Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s statement about the Russia probe.

“People who know what treason means understand that nothing that the FBI did, that the Department of Justice did or that I did or any of the folks I worked with, has anything to do with treason or plotting a coup or trying to take down a government. The fact is really we at the FBI investigated Russia and in 2016 the investigation that focused on Russia and threats from Russia took us to the president’s campaign and so we did our job,” he added.

Toward the end of May, Trump said that “they have unsuccessfully tried to take down the wrong person — if you look at Comey, if you look at McCabe, if you look at probably people higher than that, if you look at Strzok, if you look at his lover, Lisa Page, his wonderful lover.”

McCabe said Mueller’s final report, which didn’t find collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, validates the decisions that the FBI made under the Obama administration.

“I think Director Mueller’s report, his statements following the report, completely validate the decisions we made. There clearly was a threat to U.S. national security in the conduct of the Russians interfering with our 2016 election,” he said.

McCabe previously stated that Trump could possibly be an asset of the Russian government. When asked if he stands by his claim, McCabe replied, “Based on what Director Mueller’s team revealed in the report, I’d have to say no, we still have not seen clear evidence of that.”