First GOP congressman breaks with Trump on 'vindictive' McCabe firing
The Trump administration’s decision to fire FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was met with immediate disgust and suspicion, including from Republican Rep. Charlie Dent.
The sudden firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, barely over a day before his planned retirement, drew immediate backlash. And at least one Republican was willing to call out the move, as Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania did on CNN Saturday morning.
McCabe himself stated that he believes he was fired in an effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. McCabe could potentially be a key witness in the case for obstruction of justice against Trump.
Former CIA Director John Brennan slammed Trump’s “venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption” after the firing.
House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell noted pointedly that “[This is] how guilty people act.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, concurred, calling it “added evidence of obstruction of justice.”
And Democratic members of Congress like Reps. Tim Walz and Mark Pocan even offered McCabe temporary jobs in order to protect his pension.
But there’s been noticeable silence from leadership on the other side of the aisle. But Dent broke with Trump and his party to quickly slam the move.
“This firing looks a bit forced, a bit rushed,” he told CNN’s Victor Blackwell. “Candidly, it looks like retribution and a bit vindictive.”
And he pointed out that “this continuing chaos and drama” from the Trump administration is “having an impact on Republicans down ballot.” Dent was referring specifically to the recent special election in his state, where Democrat Conor Lamb flipped a seat that Trump won by 20 points in 2016.
Trump seems to think that he can shield himself from criticism or from Mueller’s investigation by just firing everyone around him.
Perhaps it worked that way at the Trump Organization, or his failed casinos, or in the reality TV world.
But in actual reality, orchestrating a smear campaign and then summarily firing someone who could serve as a key witness against him is not going to protect Trump. In fact, it could only make his self-inflicted nightmare even worse.
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