McCabe Will Testify Before Senate Committee, Sen. Graham Says

Then-FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 7, 2017. Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has agreed to testify before a Senate committee regarding the bureau’s probe into Russian election meddling and the campaign of President Donald Trump, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Graham, who chairs the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, said in remarks to Fox News on Sunday that McCabe has agreed to appear before the panel on Oct. 6, adding that further revelations are expected regarding the FBI’s alleged mishandling of the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, which later morphed into an investigation of the Trump campaign.

“There’s a day of reckoning coming. Just stay tuned, and there’s more coming. There’s something else coming, more damning than this, believe it or not,” Graham told Fox News, amid recent fallout from the infamous Steele dossier, which played a key role in the FBI’s probe into debunked allegations of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to swing the 2016 election. Documents released by the Justice Department show that most of the unverified claims in the dossier were supplied by a Washington-based Russian national who himself was investigated for allegedly being a Kremlin spy.

While aware of the counterintelligence concerns about Steele’s source, the FBI failed to disclose that to the FISA court as part of an application to surveil former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

“To me, failure of the FBI to inform the court that the Primary Sub-source was suspected of being a Russian agent is a breach of every duty owed by law enforcement to the judicial system,” Graham said in a statement.

The South Carolina Republican also told Fox News that he is seeking testimony from FBI agent William Barnett, who served on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Barnett, who was assigned to the investigation of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, told FBI and Justice Department investigators in a Sept. 17 interview (pdf) that he wanted to be taken off the case, saying that the prosecution of Flynn reflected an attitude of “get Trump.” The case against Flynn was “opaque,” lacking much detail of specific evidence of any crimes, Barnett said, adding that the case theory was “supposition on supposition.”

Word of McCabe’s agreeing to testify comes after former FBI Director James Comey said he would, without subpoena, appear before the Judiciary Committee, with his testimony expected Wednesday.

Graham, in announcing Comey’s willingness to appear before the committee, said, “he will be respectfully treated, but asked hard questions.”

Former FBI Director James Comey leaves the Rayburn House Office Building following a closed House Judiciary Committee meeting to hear his testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 7, 2018. Alex Edelman / AFP via Getty Images

The South Carolina senator also told Fox News at the time that he requested Mueller to appear before the committee, but he declined. Graham said he would seek Mueller’s testimony after the former special counsel wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post defending his office’s prosecution of Trump associate Roger Stone, whose sentence the president commuted.

“I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so,” Mueller wrote.

Democrats on the judiciary committee requested Mueller’s testimony, arguing that if Republicans are probing the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign, which morphed into Mueller’s probe, the former special counsel should be given the opportunity to defend his work.

“Apparently Mr. Mueller is willing—and also capable—of defending the Mueller investigation through an oped in the Washington Post,” Graham wrote in a July 12 tweet. “Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr. Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Graham, is one of two Republican-led Senate committees looking into the FBI’s probe.

Democrats have denounced both probes as partisan efforts targeting Trump’s political foes.