'Pursue every avenue': Former FBI official demands MAGA riot committee keep making criminal referrals
On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe weighed in on the new moves by the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack to pursue a criminal contempt referral against pro-Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark.
"Jeffrey Clark showed up before the select committee and refused to answer questions," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "How important is it for the committee to try and hold him accountable with contempt?"
"Wolf, I think it is incredibly important that the committee pursue every avenue to hold these witnesses accountable," said McCabe. "Each time, they send a very powerful message to other witnesses also currently under subpoena. We know there are many witnesses who have received subpoenas. We saw several come out last week too, a couple notable witnesses. They have to move forward with the referrals if they have any hope of others considering this seriously and deciding to cooperate."
"When it comes to Steve Bannon's strategy ... how do you interpret his push to have documents released publicly?" asked Blitzer, referring to Trump's longtime adviser who was just indicted for contempt.
"Bannon is playing this for everything he can get out of it," said McCabe. "He is in a very unique position compared to other witnesses. He actually benefits from the attention, he benefits from being perceived publicly as somebody who is putting up a loud fight and pushing back against the committee. The other witnesses are probably not similarly situated. Jeffrey Clark, as an example, is an attorney, someone who likely wants to use his law license for the rest of his career and doesn't want to deal with explaining to a bar he had been indicted and pursued on this. Bannon is in a unique position."
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