McCabe: Being accused of treason by Trump ‘quite honestly terrifying’

Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Monday it was “terrifying” to be accused of treason by President Trump. 

McCabe’s comments, made in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, came after a Department of Justice inspector general’s report disputed Trump’s accusations that political bias sparked an FBI investigation into his campaign.

“To spend your life dedicated to protecting America and upholding the Constitution and then to be accused by the president of treason and suggest — and have him further put the suggestion out that the proper penalty for us would be death — I can’t describe to you how revolting that is and quite honestly terrifying,” McCabe said on CNN.

“It is just the exact opposite of who we are as government servants, it dishonors the commitments and the work that we did to try investigate what we now know is a completely valid investigation,” McCabe added. “And it’s just a disgusting level of disrespect for the people who serve this country everyday.”

Trump had accused McCabe of being “treasonous” in February after the former FBI official said he believed he had been dismissed due to the investigation opened into the president. Trump at the time tweeted that McCabe said “so many lies” during his “60 Minutes” interview. 

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report Monday that said the watchdog team did not find evidence that “political bias or improper motivation influenced the decision” to open the investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. 

The report was, however, critical of certain aspects of the FBI’s handling of it. 

After the report was released, Trump said it showed an “attempted overthrow” of the government.

Attorney General William Barr also said that the FBI had an “insufficient” basis to justify the steps taken.