Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s offer to wear a wire around President Donald Trump as part of a plot to oust him was serious, according to a Thursday report.
Appearing on CBS This Morning, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley detailed his sit-down interview with McCabe in which the veteran deep stater confirmed discussions about “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.”
.@ScottPelley on what McCabe told @60Minutes: "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." pic.twitter.com/iVAyrEV4MF
— Norah O'Donnell🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) February 14, 2019
“These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel,” Pelley said. “And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president.”
McCabe sat down with Pelley to promote his soon-to-be-released-book The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.
“[McCabe] is the very first person involved in these meetings who has come out and spoken publicly,” Pelly continued. “They were counting noses, they were not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president, but they were speculating ‘This person would be with us. That person would not be…’ and they were counting noses in that effort. … This was not perceived to be a joke.”
According to Pelley, McCabe also confirmed that Rosenstein not only considered wearing a wire, but discussed the idea with FBI lawyers. “[McCabe] says no, it came up more than once, and it was so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it,” said the 60 Minutes correspondent.
Rosenstein has vehemently denied he proposed to wear a wire, telling the New York Times that its report on the matter was “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
“I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda,” the Justice Department official said. “But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
In a separate statement, a Justice Department spokesperson told the Times that Rosenstein made the suggestion of wearing a wire sarcastically.
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