Andrew McCabe Faces Prospect of Indictment After DOJ Rejects Appeal

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe could soon face an indictment after the Justice Department rejected his appeal to not pursue criminal charges for lying during an internal investigation.

An appeal from McCabe’s lawyers aimed to prevent a prosecution was rejected by Jeffrey Rosen, the deputy attorney general, two unnamed people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. It’s still unclear when federal prosecutors might announce charges.

The Justice Department (DOJ) sent an email to McCabe that stated, “The Department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney’s Office’s decision in this matter. Any further inquiries should be directed to the United States Attorney’s Office,” according to a source close to McCabe’s legal team.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.

U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu has reportedly recommended moving forward with the charges against McCabe, according to Fox News. Liu, who was confirmed on Sept. 14, 2017, has an extensive background within the DOJ, having served as the deputy chief of staff for the National Security Division (NSD), as counsel to the deputy attorney general, and as deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division.

In March, Liu was appointed by Attorney General William Barr to lead the attorney general’s advisory committee as chairwoman. In a statement, Barr wrote that Liu is “an outstanding attorney with broad experience” who “is widely-respected, within the Department.”

Months after being removed from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, McCabe lied to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz about authorizing a self-serving leak to the media. The inspector general later issued a report about McCabe’s repeated lies. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March 2018 based on the report’s findings.

Sessions noted that a DOJ investigation “concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor—including under oath—on multiple occasions.” McCabe has denied intentionally misleading anyone.

McCabe played a key role in the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign that started in July 2016, in the midst of the presidential election season.

The investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, was tainted with bias and potential abuse of surveillance powers. Text messages exchanged by then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, and his mistress, bureau attorney Lisa Page, demonstrated a strong dislike toward Trump and support for his presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. Page served as legal counsel for McCabe.

McCabe personally reviewed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application for a warrant to spy on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The bureau applied for the warrant using an unverified dossier of opposition research on Trump. The dossier was compiled by a foreign spy and ultimately paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Out of the 14 FBI agents and executives who have been referred since Jan. 18 to the bureau’s Office of Professional Responsibility for mishandling classified information, only four of them have been fired, according to documents made public Aug. 6 by Judicial Watch.

Recently, McCabe joined CNN as a contributor, according to an Aug. 23 announcement by the network. The decision quickly drew backlash from critics.

Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.