McCabe Turned FBI Memos Over to Mueller, Containing Interactions With Trump

Ousted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe allegedly kept memos detailing his interactions with President Donald Trump and the White House, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The memos were apparently turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is carrying out an ongoing probe into Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The memos also contained information on what former FBI Director James Comey told McCabe about his own dealings with Trump, the publication cited a person familiar with the matter. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday he had terminated McCabe's tenure—just 48 hours before his formal retirement. Sessions's decision could cost McCabe his federal pension after 21 years of service.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz confirmed the allegations via Twitter: "Andrew McCabe's memos are now in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller has McCabe's memos from his own personal interactions with President Trump and from what Comey told McCabe about his interactions with Trump," the crime and justice reporter said.

Prokupecz later tweeted what McCabe told the news channel about his conversations with the president. "In May, when Director Comey was fired and I had my own interactions with the President, he brought up my wife every time I ever spoke to him," McCabe told CNN. "Of course, I disagreed with him."

McCabe's claims are an apparent reference to an interaction he had with the president in May of 2017. After firing Comey, Trump angrily called the then-deputy director the next day asking why the former FBI director was allowed to fly on a FBI plane from Los Angeles back to Washington, D.C. McCabe told Trump that he was not asked to authorize Comey's flight, but he would have approved it if anyone had such request, according to sources cited by NBC News. In response, the president then lashed out at McCabe, urging he ask his wife "how it feels to be a loser." The remark referred to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia McCabe's wife ran in 2015, the news outlet reported.

"This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally," McCabe said in a statement last night. "It is part of an ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. "

In the wake of McCabe's dismissal, Trump tweeted: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"

The White House move sparked harsh criticism from former officials. "When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history," former CIA Director John Brennan wrote via Twitter. "You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you."