Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) on Sunday granted that the Trump administration may have had justification to fire former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, adding he couldn't know for sure.
Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he cannot be certain at this point whether McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for just cause. George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s "This Week," asked whether the Inspector General’s findings and the recommendation of FBI officials show that McCabe should have been terminated.
"Does the fact that the Inspector General did find that [McCabe] lacked candor in some of his responses and that his firing was recommended by career FBI officials, does that give you pause and does it suggest that, in fact, his firing was or may be justified?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"His firing may be justified," Schiff replied. "There's no way for us to know at this point, but even though it may have been justified, it can also be tainted."
Schiff also said Trump has harmed his case by publicly telling Sessions to get rid of McCabe, and he went on to draw attention to Trump and Republicans "targeting" associates of former FBI Director James Comey.
"I think the president's badgering of the attorney general, his urging that [McCabe] be fired before his pension could vest, and the fact that McCabe and every other of the James Comey associates, his general counsel, [James] Baker, his chief of staff, [James] Rybicki, who corroborate James Comey on the issue of potential obstruction of justice—every one of them has been targeted by the administration, by the Republicans in Congress, and is this because they corroborate James Comey?" Schiff asked.
"That's a question we also have to answer," he added.