Trump has been at ‘basically a war’ with the FBI since 2016.

• McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, said Trump has been “basically at war” with the agency since 2016.
• McCabe said the ongoing attacks had a “devastating effect” on morale within the agency.
• He also said that political leaders did not have enough power to refute the attacks on the FBI.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on Friday that former President Donald Trump has been “basically at war” with the law enforcement agency since 2016 and warned of potential dangers to agents after the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home was searched by the federal government. Authorities last week.

During an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” McCabe — who first joined the FBI in 1996 and was promoted to deputy director in 2016 under then-Director James Comey — said Trump’s continued broadside at the department is a continuation. “Trust” is essential to work successfully in such an environment.

“There’s no doubt that the work environment for FBI people is getting tougher and tougher. It’s tougher in the last five or six years, right?” he said.

In the year to do their job.”

McCabe went on to talk about the real danger of political extremism, pointing to last week’s high-profile incident in which a gunman tried to break into an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was later killed.

The suspect, Ricky Schiffer, was a frequent contributor to the Trump Truth social platform and made a series of posts expressing his feelings about the Mar-a-Lago search, according to the Washington Post.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that FBI agents removed 11 classified documents from the president’s residence, including documents labeled “Top Secret.”

“It’s a very powerful example of the state of threat in this country right now and how easily that threat of political violence can be manipulated and manipulated by Donald Trump,” McCabe said. “The investigation concluded that this individual’s intent was to attack the FBI, and he issued a statement following the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.”

He continued: “So, you know, this is what counterterrorism experts and observers and people like myself have been saying for months. Donald Trump has incredible influence over people who hold such beliefs when he finds his accusations baseless. We all know the FBI can plant evidence in their homes, as it did on Monday.

Kimberly Leonard / Interior

Trump — who lost his 2020 re-election bid to incumbent President Joe Biden and is expected to launch his 2024 campaign in the coming months — continues to wield considerable influence in the political arena.

And McCabe said that such influence extends to those who may hold more radical views of the government.

“He knows that this will have an incredibly galvanizing effect on people who hold these extreme beliefs and force them to act violently,” he said of Trump. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”

McCabe went on to say that FBI agents continue to carry out critical missions across the country every day, and that political leaders have not been strong enough to oppose attacks on the agency.

My question to the political leadership of both parties is where are you? he said. “It’s too bad that their own rhetoric is pushing some extremists in that direction. They should actively try to undermine that.”

“They have to make statements about responsibility, about true patriotism, no matter what kind of scrutiny they face, no matter how they feel,” he added.

An FBI search warrant issued last week and a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago said agents were looking for documents that could violate the Espionage Act, which prohibits the unauthorized removal of defense-related information that could help a foreign country. Government.

Trump is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice violations.

Last August, McCabe said Trump was “intimidating members of law enforcement” over his calls for “justice” against the Capitol Police officer who killed rioter Ashley Babbitt on January 6, 2021.

In the year In March 2018, McCabe was fired from the FBI hours before he was scheduled to retire, saying the inspector general’s report was not forthcoming following a newspaper leak about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of the agent. A private email server – an issue Trump repeatedly used against the former first lady during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.

McCabe filed a lawsuit over his firing, arguing that the termination was politically motivated.

Last year, the Justice Department reversed a termination and won his full pension, along with other benefits.