In part 1, this writer looked at Andrew McCabe’s odd connections to anything “Russian.”  Today, I conclude this examination.

Having come from the New York field office and investigating Russian organized crime figures, FBI directors- both Mueller and Comey- were aware that Andrew McCabe maintained problematic connections to some figures yet did little to thwart the connections or even investigate those connections once McCabe, now in Washington, was investigating other matters related to Russia.  It was reported that some CIA operatives were concerned when they became aware McCabe was involved in the Russia-Trump probe.  While in New York, McCabe often worked in tandem with Bruce Ohr who coordinated the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force.  Bruce Ohr would later transfer to Washington also and his wife was Nellie Ohr who later worked for Fusion GPS.

It is known that McCabe maintained a relationship with billionaire Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who was very close to Vladimir Putin.  At one point, McCabe flew to Europe to meet with Deripaska without first getting approval and clearance from his supervisors in the FBI.  At the time, even though Deripaska was under investigation by the FBI for financial crimes, McCabe explained that the visit was not FBI-related and that Deripaska was a “friend.”  

It is ironic (or not) that at this time, Peter Strozk was running the Post-Adjudication Risk Management plan (PARM) which was designed to detect and catch problematic and/or criminal connections to FBI agents.  It is known that before Trump announced his candidacy, several FBI agents had complained to the agency’s Security Division about McCabe meddling in cases with Russian links.  

During the 2016 election season, it was reported that operatives within the Democrat Party had reached out to Jill McCabe, his wife, and encouraged her to run for a state senate seat in Virginia and she declared her candidacy in March 2015.  In October 2015, she received a $150,000 campaign donation from a group called Common Good VA, an organization closely linked to Terry McAuliffe.  He, in turn, is very closely linked to Hillary Clinton and was a key fundraiser for her.  In all, by the end of 2015, more than $450,000 had been donated to Jill McCabe by organizations directly linked to McAuliffe.  Jill McCabe went onto defeat in her bid for the state senate.

 During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump made an issue of her state senate run and the donations from McAuliffe considering his close association with Hillary Clinton.  Specifically, Trump noted that Jill McCabe was the wife of Andrew McCabe, the man whom Comey had put in charge of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while Secretary of State.

Later reports showed that McCabe was also involved at the time with an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.  According to McCabe, in August 2016 he received a call from someone in the DOJ regarding the investigation expressing concerns about such an investigation in the middle of a presidential campaign.  To McCabe, it sounded as if the person, presumed to be Matthew Axelrod (no relation to David Axelrod), wanted him to back off.  It was later alleged by Tom Fitton, the head of Judicial Watch, that this was evidence the Obama DOJ wanted the investigation of the Clinton Foundation to go away.  At the time, according to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI was already about one year into the investigation.  CNN had previously reported that FBI agents from the Little Rock, Arkansas office were looking into Foundation finances for evidence of influence-peddling or pay-to-play schemes.

McCabe was appointed Deputy Director of the FBI in January 2016 by Director James Comey.  He was later fired after an IG probe revealed he misled investigators on four occasions (three times under oath) in connection with a Wall Street Journal article involving the 2015 donations to his wife’s state senate campaign.  It was that article and leak that confirmed the existence of the Clinton Foundation probe.

Perhaps McCabe was just trying to pad his resume when it came to these cases and the fact that they have not been fleshed out is a great mystery to this day.  Whether taking down the Russian mafia in New York, capturing terrorist bombers in Boston, getting a CIA operative out of Iran, looking into possible financial crimes involving the Clinton Foundation, being involved in Clinton’s private server while she headed the State Department, or looking into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, McCabe seems to be all over these very high-profile cases.

Next: A re-examination of that UraniumOne deal