McCabe counsel pushes back on IG report

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s lawyers are pushing back against a report by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog about the bureau’s handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.

In a statement, the attorneys said that the report “erroneously assigns responsibility” to McCabe for delaying an FBI review of former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-N.Y.) laptop in October 2016. 

{mosads}The laptop was determined to contain emails relevant to the law enforcement investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of State. 

“The report itself demonstrates that Mr. McCabe immediately directed relevant officials to take appropriate action on the laptop and that numerous senior FBI executives had far more information about the problems they had in examining the laptop than Mr. McCabe,” the statement reads.

“Ultimately, the FBI’s delay in searching the laptop was a systemic failure, not attributable to any one person.”

The report, released on Thursday by the Justice Department’s inspector general, said that McCabe and other top FBI officials knew about the emails on Weiner’s laptop for weeks before taking action on Oct. 24, 2016.

Former FBI Director James Comey stirred controversy when he announced days before the 2016 presidential election that the bureau was reopening its investigation into Clinton as it sought to review the emails on Weiner’s laptop.

The case was closed once again, however, after investigators determined that emails did not change their initial recommendation not to charge Clinton in the probe.

McCabe’s lawyers also blasted the Justice Department for releasing a shortened, public version of a chapter of the inspector general’s report, rather than the more extensive “law enforcement sensitive” version. 

“Even before we reviewed the shortened, public version, we urged the OIG not to go down this road because of the unfounded doubts and confusion that would be created,” they said.

McCabe was abruptly fired from the FBI in March, just days before he was set to retire. Another Justice Department inspector general’s report released in March concluded that McCabe had lied to investigators about making unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.