FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe arrived at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon to face a grilling from the House Intelligence Committee amid concerns among some Republicans who believe the bureau is hopelessly biased against President Trump.
He testified for close to eight hours, in a rescheduled interview that came amid the committee’s sprawling investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election.
McCabe — who was appointed by former FBI Director James Comey in early 2016 — has long been a Republican target, thanks in part to political donations his wife received from Democratic governor and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe (Va.).
But he skyrocketed back into the public view after a series of texts from a former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team became public. The agent, Peter Strzok, disparaged political figures of both parties in the texts, including Trump, whom he called an “idiot.”
Both Democrats and Republicans described the interview as professional and cordial when the committee broke mid-way through the interview for House votes, but were tight-lipped on the details of McCabe’s testimony afterwards. Committee Republicans — as well as McCabe — evaded reporters when the interview broke up at 10 p.m.
Panel Democrats largely declined to answer questions. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) called the meeting “productive,” but declined to speak further.
Republicans went into the interview planning to press him on a host of issues, from the Strzok texts to how the FBI used a controversial, unconfirmed dossier of opposition research into then-candidate Donald Trump. Some Republicans have speculated that the bureau may have used the so-called Steele Dossier — some of which has been shown to be false — as the basis for a surveillance warrant on members of Trump’s campaign.
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