Caricature by DonkeyHotey flic.kr/p/Ct4G4K https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

We thought we’d seen the last of disgraced former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe when he was fired for telling multiple lies to multiple investigators looking into his actions in conjunction with the Russia probe. Now he has a book out called  “The Threat: How the F.B.I. Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump,” and as part of the contribution by the #Resistance, he was given a friendly, puff-piece interview by 60 Minutes.

Some pretty amazing stuff came out of it.

As a clip from the interview with Scott Pelley was released, Mr. Pelley said on “CBS This Morning” that Mr. McCabe had confirmed a New York Times report that the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had suggested wearing a wire in meetings with Mr. Trump and that Justice Department officials discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.

“There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Mr. Pelley said. “These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president.”

Former law enforcement officials said the comments were made during a pair of meetings on May 16, 2017. Mr. McCabe and his former colleagues kept contemporaneous memos on their interactions with Mr. Trump and Justice Department officials.

According to one of those memos written by Mr. McCabe, an excerpt from which was provided to The New York Times, the former F.B.I. agent wrote that “we discussed the president’s capacity and the possibility he could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment” and the deputy attorney general indicated he looked into the issue and determined he would need a “majority or 8 of the 15 cabinet officials.” Mr. McCabe added that Mr. Rosenstein suggested that he might have supporters in the attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security.

This has come out before. RedState colleagues Elizabeth Vaughn and T. LaDuke wrote about it last fall when the story first appeared.

What makes this interesting is that Rod Rosenstein put on a full court press to bat those stories down–Rosenstein said his remark was facetious and McCabe chose to misinterpret it–and McCabe is still sticking with it.

.@ScottPelley on what McCabe told @60Minutes: "There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment." pic.twitter.com/iVAyrEV4MF

— Norah O'Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) February 14, 2019

McCabe confirms: After president fired FBI director, national security apparatus strategized removing president.
https://t.co/597nE6tZry

— Byron York (@ByronYork) February 14, 2019

Did the "highest levels" of the Department of Justice attempt to foment a coup d'etat in May 2017? Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told Scott Pelley… https://t.co/05X9BkduDQ

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) February 14, 2019

The idea of the FBI “counting noses,” as Scott Pelley calls it in the interview, of cabinet members who might be persuaded to try to oust the President calls to mind something J. Edgar Hoover might have tried and it makes one wonder if the discussion of who they could count on might be driven by the information they had on that person.

As #AndrewMcCabe confesses to why he opened investigation of @realDonaldTrump after firing of #JamesComey, media is burying the lede: What the hell was going on among senior FBI mgmt that they would presume to probe @POTUS-talk about wearing a wire & banter re #25thAmendment?

— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) February 14, 2019

Rosenstein has denied it again.

New – DOJ response to McCabe 60 minutes interview pic.twitter.com/lQJkZoBsiF

— Laura Jarrett (@LauraAJarrett) February 14, 2019

And President Trump is not happy.

Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax – a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

I’ve long been skeptical that there existed a “deep state” of the Turkish variety in the United States government, but when you reach the point where senior officials can talk openly about…and keep notes on the meeting

you’ve reached a stage where it is difficult to say that they were doing anything less than plotting a coup.

Of course, with any story told by McCabe you have to realize you are dealing with a very bitter little man who is out to settle scores and who has demonstrated he is a pathological liar. On the other hand, Rod Rosenstein is a gutless weasel who would do anything to ingratiate himself to those in power and save his job. So you don’t know who to believe. But this is one of those cases where a special investigator needs to be empowered to find out. It’s important.

Imagine what kind of blowback there would be if the FBI had meetings to discuss secretly recording Obama because they didn't like his coddling of the terror regime in Iran?

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) February 14, 2019