WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — Former acting Federal Bureau of Investigation director Andrew McCabe testified Tuesday that the bureau was justified in investigating President Donald Trump and his 2016 campaign.
“We had many reasons at that point to believe that the president might himself pose a danger to national security and that he might have engaged in obstruction of justice if the firing of the director and those other things were geared toward eliminating or stopping our investigation of Russian activity,” McCabe said.
That investigation turned into the special counsel’s probe — which ultimately found no collusion between the president’s campaign and Russia in 2016.
During the hearing — Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) charged the FBI damaged its reputation by going after the president in such a flawed investigation.
“Do you have any idea, Mr. McCabe, do you have any idea how badly you and your colleagues have hurt the FBI? The premier law enforcement agency in all of human history, and it was just a handful of you. Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve done,” Kennedy asked.
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), meanwhile, criticized Republicans for holding another hearing about the Russian probe, nicknamed “Crossfire Hurricane.”
“More than four years have passed since the FBI opened ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ and multiple investigations have confirmed that the FBI was correct to do so. So, I think, Mr. Chairman, it’s time to turn the page on ‘Crossfire Hurricane,’ Sen. Feinstein said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee review of the Russia investigation is one of several that Republicans have conducted.
A separate probe by the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut continues.