- The Washington Times - Thursday, September 19, 2019

Andrew McCabe’s attorneys on Thursday accused the Justice Department of withholding information about its investigation of the former FBI deputy director.

The attorneys, Micheal Bromwich and David Schertler, are also demanding the department probe allegations that confidential grand jury materials were leaked to members of the media.

Last week, the attorneys requested the Justice Department disclose whether a grand jury rejected an indictment of the ex-FBI deputy director. They said at the time that they had no knowledge of grand jury proceedings against their client, but they had heard “rumors from reporters.”

On Thursday, Mr. McCabe’s attorneys blasted the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, saying they’ve ignored their efforts to learn whether the grand jury decided to indict their client.

“We have directed numerous inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office over the past week about the status of the investigation of our client, Andrew McCabe,” the attorneys said in a statement. “We have been provided with no information in response to those requests. What little information we have has come from the news media.”

“This is not how the Department that we both served for decades should be handling an investigation such as this,” the statement continued.

It was reported earlier this month that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jessie K. Liu, had recommended criminal charges against Mr. McCabe. The ex-FBI official appealed the charges to the Justice Department, which denied the request.

The attorneys claimed reporters have told them a grand jury declined to indict Mr. McCabe, indicating he may not face criminal charges after all. It is not clear if Ms. Liu would convene a second grand jury or just move forward with charges.

On Thursday, Mr. McCabe’s attorney said they are still in the dark about whether a grand jury was convened or if it rejected an indictment.

“We have no idea whether this was accurate information, and no one has either confirmed or denied it to us,” the attorney said.

If true, the attorneys said, the Justice Department needs to investigate how confidential grand jury information was leaked to the press.

They claimed an email sent by the deputy attorney general denying their appeal of a possible indictment was leaked to the media within 30 minutes of their receipt, a direct violation of Justice Department policies.

“These leaks in violation of DOJ policy are particularly ironic given that the entire predicate for any false statements charges that might be brought against our client is an authorized disclosure of information that he directed be made in October 2016,” the attorneys said.

Mr. McCabe was fired March 2018 after a Justice Department inspector general report concluded he misled investigators probing leaks to the media regarding an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

Mr. McCabe is currently suing the FBI and Justice Department over the circumstances of his firing.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.

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