McCabe: I did not leak to the media

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says he was within his authority to disclose information to media and did not “leak” any details on ongoing FBI investigations to reporters, despite an internal FBI report that got him fired.

Speaking to ABC News, McCabe said that he made a 2016 decision to supply information to a reporter in order to attempt to shift a narrative that he was slow-walking the Clinton Foundation investigation at the agency.

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“The department was not impressed with the case, and they didn’t believe it should be going forward,” McCabe said.

In order to get the reporter “off [the] narrative,” McCabe said he authorized the release of “the content of a conversation that I had had with [a senior official] from the Department of Justice” about the investigation.

“The decision to share information with the media is absolutely within my authority as deputy director,” he added. “I am one of three people in the FBI who has the independent authority to make that decision. People could disagree about the decisions I made … but the fact is this is not a leak.”

McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Friday night, who cited reports from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General, which Sessions says both “concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media.”

“Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Sessions said.

The fired FBI deputy director quickly made several statements to the press following his ouster, characterizing his dismissal as an attempt to sabotage Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.

“The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,” McCabe told The New York Times. “This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.”

“Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of [former FBI Director] James Comey,” McCabe added in his statement.