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Rosenstein Removed McCabe From Russia Probe After Appointing Special Counsel theepochtimes.com/rosenstein-rem… via @epochtimes

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein removed then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe from the Russia investigation in May 2017 upon appointing special counsel Robert Mueller to take over the probe, according to a Feb. 14 statement by the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed Rosenstein’s order in response to allegations McCabe made in a yet-to-be-aired interview with CBS, the content of which was partly revealed on Feb. 14

The revelation is significant because, days prior to being removed, McCabe took the extraordinary step of opening an obstruction-of-justice investigation into President Donald Trump following Trump’s firing of then-FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017.

McCabe opened the obstruction investigation days after telling the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he wasn’t aware of any effort to impede the FBI’s Russia probe.

In the nine days between Comey’s firing and Mueller’s appointment, a series of events occurred suggesting that Rosenstein wrested control of the investigation from McCabe.

On May 11, as McCabe testified before the Senate intelligence committee, Rosenstein pulled the committee chairman and ranking member into a private meeting in a secure room. On May 16, one day before the appointment of the special counsel, Rosenstein met with Trump and Mueller.

In the upcoming CBS interview, McCabe doubled down on accusations against Rosenstein, including the previously-reported allegation that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to record Trump.

McCabe also alleged that he attended meetings at the Justice Department to discuss if the majority of Trump’s cabinet could be brought together to invoke the 25th amendment. The DOJ denied the allegations in 2018 and issued another rebuttal in the Feb. 14 statement.

“The deputy attorney general again rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect,” a DOJ spokesperson said.

“The deputy attorney general never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references.”

“As the deputy attorney general previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the [deputy attorney general] in a position to consider invoking the 25 Amendment.”

McCabe personally reviewed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application for a warrant to spy on former Trump-campaign associate Carter Page.

McCabe was also “Andy” in the notorious “insurance policy” text message written by Strzok to Page. In the message, Strzok discussed an “insurance policy” in the “unlikely” event that Trump was elected.

Months after being removed from the Russia investigation, McCabe lied to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz about authorizing a self-serving leak to the media. The inspector general later issued a report about McCabe’s repeated lies.

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March last year based on the report’s findings.

As of September 2018, a federal grand jury in Washington was investigating McCabe’s leaks, according to The Washington Post.