Fleischer Slams McCabe, Comey: “The FBI I Know Is Better Than This”
by Ari Fleischer via TheHill.com,
ZeroHedge.com
Fri, 02/02/2018
I don’t know former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. I’ve never met him. But I was supposed to…
I was in an FBI car last June on my way to meet him and other top law enforcement leaders at a counterterrorism communications training event at the 9/11 Museum in New York City when McCabe suddenly ordered me not to show up. The car pulled up outside the museum and I was told not to come inside. I took a taxi back to my hotel and went home.
Based on my one and only experience with McCabe, it proved to me that he has a “circle the wagons and protect James Comey at all costs” approach that is inconsistent with the type of behavior our nation should expect from a man who, at the time, was leading the FBI.
Here’s what happened. In January 2017, I was invited by then FBI Director Comey to deliver the keynote address for a major meeting of law enforcement directors from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. These English-speaking countries are called the Five Eyes nations. In addition to the FBI director and his foreign counterparts, the heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were to attend. The meeting was a big deal.
As someone who is an admirer and supporter of the FBI, I looked forward to going and sharing what I learned about how to communicate in a crisis. Having been the White House press secretary on Sept. 11, 2001, there was a lot I wanted to share with the Five Eyes leaders.
One month before the event, Comey was fired, and McCabe became acting FBI director. The day prior to the event, Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He acknowledged telling President Trump he was not under investigation, and he admitted he provided FBI memos to a friend so they could be leaked to the New York Times.
That evening, I went on Fox News and was mildly critical of Comey. I said when President Trump sought a one-on-one meeting with him, he should have resisted it, a statement Comey himself made at the hearing. The next morning, about an hour before I was due at the 9/11 Museum, I was on another TV show and again was mildly critical of Comey. I questioned the ethics of his leaking FBI memos to a private citizen so they could be given to the press. I also said I saw no evidence of collusion between President Trump and Russia.
The Rest…HERE
