Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe was flabbergasted on Monday after new reporting revealed that President Donald Trump personally called agents participating in the raid of an elections office in Georgia last week.
FBI agents stormed the Fulton County, Georgia, election office last week with a warrant to seize all materials and ballots related to the 2020 general election. Trump has consistently claimed he won the election, despite losing 66 court cases related to the election results, and he has demanded that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "find" 11,780 votes to deliver him the state.
On Sunday, the New York Times reported new details of the raid. For instance, the Times reported that Trump personally asked Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to attend the raid and coordinate her actions with Andrew Bailey, one of two deputy FBI directors. The Times also reported on a phone call that Trump made to the participating officers, where he personally cheered on their work.
McCabe reacted to the reporting on CNN's "The Arena" with Kasie Hunt.
"My head is spinning with these revelations," McCabe said. "But first of all, shame on Andrew Bailey for allowing that to happen. That's the moment, Mr. Bailey, where you have to stand up and stand on principle and refuse."
McCabe added that no FBI leader "under any circumstances" should allow a Cabinet secretary to go out with agents to execute a search warrant. He said that the move breaks a decades-old DOJ protocol.
"You should never under any circumstances allow ... any Cabinet secretary to go out with your agents on a search warrant, but certainly not under these circumstances where you're going to be accused of allowing politics to influence your criminal work, which is a terrible position to be in anyway," McCabe said. "This just absolutely proves the theory."
