Andrew McCabe: Congress should ‘absolutely’ launch impeachment proceedings against Trump

Congress should “absolutely” start impeachment proceedings against President Trump, former top FBI official Andrew McCabe said Thursday.

Mr. McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director prior to being fired last year, made the remark during an appearance on CNN while discussing the report released by Robert Mueller summarizing the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 election and Mr. Trump’s campaign.

“Do you believe that an impeachment inquiry is warranted based on what you understand and what has come out of the Mueller report?” CNN host Chris Cuomo asked Mr. McCabe.

“Absolutely,” Mr. McCabe responded. “I think we are clearly there with the results of the special counsel team. There are so many witnesses who could provide important, essential testimony to Congress that can only be done in the scope of an impeachment inquiry. I think that action should be taken immediately, and I think that people should finally hear for themselves exactly what those witnesses have to say.”

Mr. McCabe, 51, spent more than two decades with the FBI before being fired in March 2018, less than two days before his scheduled retirement. An inspector general’s report conducted by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog faulted him with disclosing details to the media about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s former White House rival.

He had become the bureau’s acting director after Mr. Trump fired James Comey, the former head of the FBI, in May 2017. Mr. Mueller was named special counsel that same month and put in charge of the government’s probe into the 2016 election and related matters, which swelled to consider whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice by terminating Mr. Comey.

“[I]f we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mr. Mueller said during a news conference last month. “We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”

Democrats on Capitol Hill have considered launching impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump in the aftermath of the release of Mr. Mueller’s report but have failed so far to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to follow through.