Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe no longer believes that President Trump may be a Russian asset.

As recently as February, McCabe said that “it’s possible” that Trump could be coordinating with the Kremlin. But after hearing special counsel Robert Mueller's public address on Wednesday, McCabe acknowledged on MSNBC that he changed his mind on the matter.





“Well, I think that the report makes clear that they did not uncover evidence of that sort of a relationship. So, based on what Director Mueller’s team revealed in their report, I’d have to say no, we still have not seen clear evidence of that," he said on Thursday.

Mueller's final report was released in late April and he gave his first public comments on his team's findings on Wednesday. In both his report and his speech, Mueller described how the Russian government had systematically attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election through the hacking of Democratic emails, the distribution of those emails through WikiLeaks, and social media disinformation campaigns.

Mueller was not able establish any coordination or conspiracy between the Russians and the Trump campaign or any other Americans, but some critics of Trump insist there was coordination. For instance, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who has reignited his panel's Russia investigation, claims there is "ample evidence of collusion in plain sight."

At a time when Trump has given his attorney general sweeping powers to "investigate the investigators," McCabe defended the actions of the Justice Department and FBI during the Trump-Russia investigation.

He also contended that Mueller’s press conference — in which Mueller reiterated the broad points already outlined in his 448-page report — was meant to push back against Trump. “What has been billed as ‘no collusion’ and ‘no obstruction’ should probably be recast as ‘no witch hunt’ and ‘no exoneration’,” McCabe insisted. “I think that was the message that Bob Mueller was telling us yesterday.”

A February 2018 report from DOJ Inspector General Horowitz found McCabe had improperly disclosed information to the Wall Street Journal confirming the existence of a Clinton Foundation investigation. That report determined McCabe “lacked candor” when speaking with former FBI Director James Comey, with the FBI’s Internal Investigations Section, and with the Office of the Inspector General. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March 2018 just a few days before he was set to retire.

McCabe’s actions at the FBI during the Trump-Russia investigation, including helping approve the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act filings targeting former Trump campaign associate Carter Page, have likely come under scrutiny during Horowitz’s investigation into FISA abuse.

The Page FISA application was filed by the Justice Department and FBI with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in October 2016. A surveillance warrant was granted and three renewals were subsequently approved. The FISA application relied heavily on unverified research in British ex-spy Christopher Steele's dossier on President Trump's ties to Russia, which was compiled through his employment with opposition research firm Fusion GPS with funding from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.

McCabe’s broader actions at the bureau are also likely to be looked at by Attorney General William Barr, who was recently given wide declassification authority by Trump to help get answers about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and the way the DOJ and FBI conducted themselves.