Former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe told CNN on Tuesday that the bad blood between the FBI and Attorney General Pam Bondi's office was like nothing he's ever witnessed before, and would almost certainly lead to at least one head rolling.
Current deputy director Dan Bongino, who made his name touting Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories, has clashed with Bondi over her failure to produce files and an alleged client list that MAGA for years has clamored for. Bongino even failed to show up for work at least one day last week in protest.
"So, the tension between the deputy director and the AG is really untenable," McCabe said. "This is a bad thing for the FBI, bad thing for the Department of Justice, and really not the kind of thing that, in my experience, having worked for many attorneys general, I've never seen anything like this before."
McCabe continued, "And I can't imagine any other attorney general ever tolerating an act of disrespect along the lines of what allegedly took place between Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino in the White House when they got into some trading accusations and some sort of shouting match in front of the president's chief of staff. I can't imagine that happening."
McCabe said it's not unusual for the DOJ and FBI to have differing opinions on how to handle investigations, "but those conversations always take place in the house within the family. You never let those things spill over into the public."
McCabe said since President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Bondi, she "makes the final call on everything, period. No exceptions."
And, since Bongino has already taken it on himself to challenge Bondi, he may not be long for the White House.
"I find it almost hard to believe that Dan will be able to continue in that role, with all of the drama that they've put forth in the last week," McCabe said, adding that Bongino, "could be convinced to resign if he's leaning that way."
