The memos' most explosive revelations chronicle the decision by McCabe in his early days on the job to open a formal investigation of Trump on the grounds that Comey's firing may have been an act of obstruction of justice designed to thwart the Russia probe.
The notes show McCabe informed Rosenstein during a May 16, 2017 meeting - one of their first after Comey was fired and McCabe became acting director - that he had opened the obstruction probe.
Pdf One of McCabe's lieutenants who also attended the meeting, then-bureau attorney Lisa Page, took her own notes, observing that Rosenstein's expressed outrage over Comey's firing seemed odd since Rosenstein had revealed to FBI officials he and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been contemplating it since January 2017.
Pdf McCabe's own notes from the May 16, 2017 meeting don't mention that Rosenstein had been discussing firing Comey since January.
"We returned to our discussion from the morning meeting about the DAG's memo on the firing of Director Comey," McCabe wrote on May 21, 2017.
McCabe's testimony to Congress that Rosenstein offered to surreptitiously record Trump is supported by his contemporaneous May 16, 2017 memo.
"Using coded language, he asked me if I had had the opportunity to speak to Director Comey, he would be very interested to hear what the director thought about the special counsel issue. I told him I would consider it."I convened a conference call with James Baker, James Rybicki and Lisa Page to discuss whether or not I should seek Director Comey's opinion on the special counsel issue," McCabe added.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Obstruction boomerang: FBI knew DOJ was preparing to fire Comey long before Trump ordered it
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