Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI Director fired from his post at the behest of president Donald Trump, strongly believes Trump is a Russian asset working to advance the interests of the Kremlin against those of the United States'.
Before he was fired by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, McCabe opened an obstruction of justice probe into Trump. His investigation was then shut down to give way to the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into collusion between the Trump campaign, and probably even Trump himself, with the Russians.
McCabe is currently under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. for allegedly misleading investigators in their probe of the FBI's handling of the investigation of the Clinton Foundation.
McCabe said the inspector general's report used to justify his firing was the result of improper command influence, meaning Trump wanted him gone before his scheduled retirement date. He was fired by Sessions only 26 days before he was to officially retire from government service.
Asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper on his television program "Anderson Cooper 360" if he still believes Trump is a Russian asset, McCabe answered in the affirmative.
"I think it's possible," according to McCabe. "I think that's why we started our investigation, and I'm really anxious to see where (Robert) Mueller concludes that."
He said the strong suspicion Trump is a Russian agent was the reason "why we (the FBI) started our investigation." McCabe previously said the FBI had good reason to launch a counterintelligence investigation as to whether Trump is working for Russia and was a national security threat.
"It was an incredible time, the simple fact that the deputy attorney general (Rod Rosenstein) and the acting director of the FBI (himself) were trying to figure out how to navigate a situation in which we thought the President of the United States might be involved in obstruction of justice and might be doing that to cover up some sort of inappropriate relationship with the Russians," said McCabe.
"It was a head-spinning moment."
In the intelligence community, an asset is a person within an organization or a country being spied upon that provides information a spy or intelligence operative. Assets are sometimes referred to as agents or as confidential informants (CIs).
This stunning takedown is another in a series of Trump-bashing comments from McCabe. During the CNN interview, McCabe attacked Trump for continuously undermining the country's top law enforcement agencies to gain political advantage.
"This President is undermining the role of law enforcement, undermining the role of our intelligence infrastructure and negatively impacting the men and women of the FBI, and across the intelligence agencies, (and their) ability to protect this country on a daily basis," said McCabe.
He affirmed there is no doubt in his mind Trump is undermining the "effectiveness and strength" of federal government institutions.
McCabe also described the events leading up to the decision to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump. This decision was made after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
After the ignominious firing of its boss, McCabe said the FBI was "obligated to open the case" as there was an "articulable basis" to believe a "federal crime has been committed.
