Fox News Catherine Herridge reports today, per her FBI investigative sources, it was an investigative interview with FBI Attorney Lisa Page, in July 2017, that contradicted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and ultimately led to his firing.
That revelation is exactly what we anticipated was the origin to Inspector General Michael Horowitz gaining the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. The issue is actually more stunning than presented. However, first here’s the report from Herridge (emphasis mine):
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired last month for committing three violations of the bureau’s ethics code, an investigative source told Fox News on Thursday.The violations initially were uncovered by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General and confirmed by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. They included lack of candor under oath, lack of candor when not under oath, and the improper disclosure of non-public information to the media about the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
The violations stemmed from McCabe’s response to an October 2016 Wall Street Journal report about sizeable campaign donations from Democrats to McCabe’s wife, Jill, during her campaign for the Virginia State Senate. The investigation found that McCabe instructed FBI lawyer Lisa Page and FBI public affairs chief Michael Kortan to work with the Journal’s reporter to set the record straight.The source said Page’s statements to investigators were “critical”because they directly contradicted her boss, McCabe.
According to the source, McCabe’s lack of candor about the contact with the Journal reporter led to his firing. The source added that Page’s testimony about the matter contradicted McCabe’s. Then-FBI Director James Comey claimed he never authorized the leak to the Journal. (read more)
A picture was initially clear in March once we had the full timeline of the interviews with Andrew McCabe that led to his firing. This Fox News report only confirms the obvious; however, it’s important to review the events to fully understand the scope of McCabe’s lying and also understand the reason for Lisa Page to be so angry.
Remember, Lisa Page was a DOJ attorney assigned to the office of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe specifically to provide legal guidance. Imagine how pissed off she was when she discovered (July 2017) the Deputy FBI Director who told her to leak a story -on his behalf- to the Wall Street Journal, denied ever telling her to leak the story.
It’s no wonder why Ms. Page told FBI Agent Peter Strzok to “never text her again”, and she quit working for the Mueller team several weeks before IG Horowitz informed Mueller about the conspiracy issues (which led to Strzok’s removal).
Here’s the timeline from an assembly of media reporting and investigative releases to congress.
Andrew McCabe was first interviewed about the media leaks in May 2017. He denied. “A couple of months later” he was interviewed by Inspector General Horowitz, and he again denied. On July 20th of 2017 Inspector General Horowitz gained the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page text messages.
•July 2017 McCabe denies again; to Inspector General Horowitz.
•July 2017 Lisa Page admits to Horowitz she was told to construct the Wall Street Journal story (Devlin Barrett, journalist). This conflicts with McCabes repeated denials. (link)
•July 20th 2017 Horowitz gets Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages (link). Proving McCabe constructed the WSJ story.
•August 2017: After Horowitz gets the proof McCabe was lying – McCabe follows up on the two denials saying “he may have allowed FBI officials to speak with the newspaper”. (link)
•August 2017: FBI re-interviews McCabe based on new admissions.
•November 29th 2017: One day before SC Mueller indicts Michael Flynn, IG Horowitz interviews McCabe again. Apparently this time McCabe admitted to constructing the leak. (link)
In May, June and July 2017, while FBI Deputy Director Andrew “Andy” McCabe was lying to FBI investigators and the Inspector General, Lisa Page was working for McCabe as his legal counsel.
Therein lies the heart and origin of the motive for Lisa Page to flip against the conspiracy group when she discovered Andrew McCabe lying to investigators about his instructions to her. IG Horowitz then interviews Page in July and she tells the truth, thereby contradicting McCabe.
However, Ms. Page had the evidence – The Text Messages delivered July 20th.
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