The No. 2 at the FBI is, for all intents and purposes, out of a job.
News broke Monday that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is rather abruptly stepping down.
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Then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on Capitol Hill in June 2017. (Alex Brandon/AP)
We knew for a few months that McCabe was going to leave, but this confirms he's leaving as quickly as he can. In the Trump era, the comings and goings of top FBI officials are extremely newsworthy for two reasons:
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- The FBI started the investigation that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is now leading into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
- Trump and his allies have made McCabe Exhibit A in what they allege is anti-Trump Democratic bias in the FBI. McCabe in particular has taken a lot of heat because:
* McCabe was part of the FBI when it started investigating Trump in 2016.
* His wife ran as a Democrat in a Virginia state race and accepted donations from Hillary Clinton allies.
Trump's obsession with McCabe's loyalty started immediately, it seems. When McCabe briefly took over the FBI while Trump searched for a replacement for James B. Comey last summer, Trump asked McCabe whom he voted for. Later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions pressured the new FBI director to get rid of McCabe, which FBI Director Christopher A. Wray refused to do.
Basically, McCabe has been under extreme pressure on the right and from the president himself. He hasn't said why he's leaving, but that's important context.
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What to make of this? We don't have all the facts yet, so I'm going to take a wild guess and say that, depending on your political views, this is either a good thing or a bad thing. Here's your talking point for either side.
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McCabe Leaving is a Good Thing talking point: McCabe's immediate departure is a successful rooting out of FBI corruption from the Comey era. (But as The Fix's Aaron Blake points out, all of the people in Trump's crosshairs in the FBI have been Republicans or voted Republican).
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McCabe Leaving is a Bad Thing talking point: Here is a tangible effect of a potentially disturbing effort to impugn an independent law enforcement agency. As The Fix's Callum Borchers points out, if McCabe was truly biased, why would Trump have briefly had him in the No. 1 position in the first place?
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“For Trump, McCabe was a useful public relations prop. The White House could point to his wife’s foray into politics, as a Democrat, to cry bias and also could point to Trump’s promotion of McCabe, in May, to dispute any appearance of obstruction.”
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How to watch the State of the Union and sound smart to all your friends who are also watching it
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Trump at his first address to Congress in February, which technically was not a State of the Union. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Image via AP)
I can make a case for why State of the Unions are politically noteworthy and why they're not.
There's no guarantee that what the president says he wants Congress to do will actually get done. With this president, there's not even a guarantee that what he says he wants Congress to do is really what he wants Congress to do.
But that's precisely why Trump's State of the Union is worth tuning into. (Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern, and you can watch at washingtonpost.com.)
His relationship with Congress has never been weaker. He's been so indecisive on immigration that even Republican leaders are calling him out. On Tuesday, he'll have an opportunity to refresh that relationship — or make it much worse. Here are three things to watch for on that front:
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1. Does Trump make a case for his immigration deal?That means not just selling the border wall but also a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants in the country illegally? His words could go a long way to getting conservative House Republicans on board.
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Supporters of “dreamers” on Capitol Hill in December. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
2. Does Trump reach out to Democrats? He's going to need their support, especially in the Senate, to get any major legislation done.
3. Does Trump manage to avoid controversy? Republican lawmakers, basically, during the entire speech: “Just please, please, Mr. President, don't say anything political or about the Russia investigation.”
Of course, what does one controversy-free speech mean? Days after Trump's surprisingly scripted first address to Congress last year, he falsely accused the Obama administration of wiretapping him.
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Don't want the State of the Union at all? We will send out a special edition of the 5-Minute Fix after the speech of its winners and losers, written by Undisputed Winner The Fix's Aaron Blake. See ya then!
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We could all use a little more cuddle-wuddle on Mondays. (giphy.com)
Still want more politics in your life? Read these awesome pieces:
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