Former FBI deputy director claims there were 25th Amendment talks
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
In an upcoming interview with "60 Minutes," former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CBS's Scott Pelley that the Justice Department had to discuss "whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove" President Trump under the 25th Amendment.
Why it matters: McCabe's interview with Pelley marks the first person involved in those meetings to speak publicly. "They were counting noses," Pelley told "CBS This Morning" on Thursday. "They were not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president, but they were speculating."
- The NYT first reported on this back in September of 2017.
- "I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false," a Justice Department spokesperson on behalf of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told Axios at the time.
The other side: A DOJ spokesman commented on McCabe's interview, saying Rosenstein "rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect. The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references."
- "As the Deputy Attorney General previously stated, based on his personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment."
- "Subsequent to this removal, DOJ’s Inspector General found that Mr. McCabe did not tell the truth to the federal authorities on multiple occasions, leading to his termination from the FBI."
Go deeper: Fired FBI deputy director: Trump directed Rosenstein to write Comey memo
