--- title: Andrew McCabe Says He Opened Trump Investigations Out of Fear the Case Might 'Vanish' description: Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe says he wanted to ensure the investigation of Trump was on “solid ground” in case he was fired. canonical: https://time.com/5529458/andrew-mccabe-russia-investigation-60-minutes/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-14T13:52:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:56.075Z article:section: Politics og:title: McCabe Says He Opened Trump Investigations Out of Fear the Case Might 'Vanish' og:description: Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe says he wanted to ensure the investigation of Trump was on “solid ground” in case he was fired. og:url: https://time.com/5529458/andrew-mccabe-russia-investigation-60-minutes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0a7b76824f62a0b/698931eecf40a8630cc4c5de/ap18151069833134.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Andrew McCabe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: McCabe Says He Opened Trump Investigations Out of Fear the Case Might 'Vanish' twitter:description: Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe says he wanted to ensure the investigation of Trump was on “solid ground” in case he was fired. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0a7b76824f62a0b/698931eecf40a8630cc4c5de/ap18151069833134.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Acting FBI Director McCabe Says He Opened Trump Investigations Out of Fear the Case Might 'Vanish' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=03ddc961-3d49-43e8-961b-3861eda31b85&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why President Trump's Firings Are Not All The Same [Watch (HLS stream): Why President Trump's Firings Are Not All The Same](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QQ934mGx.m3u8) (1:48)  _Published 2018-03-20. A guide to former Trump administration staffers._ by [Terrence Dopp / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Terrence Dopp / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 14, 2019 1:52 PM UTC  FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington June 7, 2017. FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington June 7, 2017. Alex Brandon—AP by [Terrence Dopp / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Terrence Dopp / Bloomberg Contributor Feb 14, 2019 1:52 PM UTC Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe started the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations involving President Donald Trump and his ties to Russia because he wanted to ensure the probe was on “solid ground” in case he was fired. McCabe said in an interview to air on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday that he took the action after speaking to Trump hours after the president fired his boss, former FBI Director James Comey, in May of 2017. “I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage,” McCabe said in an excerpt aired on CBS on Thursday. “And that was something that troubled me greatly.” > [](https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1096018655895277568) McCabe was fired last March just 26 hours before he was scheduled to retire without a full pension. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe over allegations he had violated the FBI and Justice Department’s policy related to disclosures to the media. He’s responded that he was the target of a political attack by Trump. “I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground and in an indelible fashion” McCabe said in the interview. “That were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.” CBS’s Scott Pelley said McCabe discussed DOJ meetings shortly after Comey’s firing in which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed possibly wearing a wire when talking to Trump about whether the vice president and Cabinet could invoke the Constitution to remove the president from office. The Justice Department in a previous statement claimed that Rosenstein was being sarcastic, but McCabe said he repeated it more than once and the suggestion was taken seriously. “There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said on the show. “These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president.” McCabe has written a book, called “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” in which he writes about the 2016 election and its aftermath, in addition to his career at the FBI. ## Transcript [00:00] Before he became president, Donald Trump was [00:02] famous for firing people on television. You're fired. [00:06] You're fired. Hillary, you're fired. So it's not surprising [00:10] that his first year in office has seen a number of firings [00:12] and resignations, nearly triple the rate in President [00:15] Obama's first year according to one study. [00:16] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] But the [00:20] high turnover rate obscures the very different reasons [00:23] behind the departure Some have been typical. People [00:26] who lack because they were ready for something [00:27] different. That includes everyone from deputy White [00:30] House chief of staff Katie Wash to press secretary Sean [00:33] Spicer and communications director Hope Hicks. Then [00:36] there's people who left or were forced out because [00:37] they disagreed on policy. Deputy Attorney General [00:40] Sally Yates was fired for refusing to defend the travel [00:43] ban. Economic advisor Gary Cohn resigned over [00:46] transplant implements steel and aluminum tariffs. And [00:49] secretary of state Rax Tillerson was fired after clashing [00:51] with trump too many times. Others left under a cloud [00:55] of scandal. Health and Human Services secretary Tom [00:58] Price resigned amid criticism of his use of taxpayer [01:01] funded charter flights. [ MUSIC ] CDC Director Brenda [01:04] Fitzgerald resigned after reports she had traded in [01:06] tobacco stocks. And staff secretary Rob Porter [01:09] resigned after accusations of domestic violence. In [01:12] some cases, the departure itself has been [01:14] controversial. Trump's firing of FBI Director James [01:17] Comey started a series of events Of events that led to [01:19] the appointment of a special counsel. And the firing of [01:22] FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe raised questions [01:25] about the president's involvement. At least one Trump [01:28] staffer should have seen it coming. Aide Omarosa [01:31] Manigault was fired in December in part for misusing [01:33] White House car service. But it was the frist time she'd [01:37] been fired by Donald Trump. You know I've always [01:38] been a big Omarosa fan, but Omarosa you're fired. 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