Thread by @JohnWHuber

So Andy McCabe hints very strongly in his book the "articulable factual basis" he used for opening an obstruction case against POTUS @realDonaldTrump in May 2017 as Acting FBI Director

And it's as ridiculous as you'd expect

THREAD

Here they are:

1. Firing @Comey
2. "Hoping" @Comey would let @GenFlynn go*
3. Being "demeaning" & calling the investigation a "Witch Hunt"
4. Lester Holt interview

That's it

*According to Comey

An obstruction investigation of the President would be classed as a "Sensitive Investigative Matter" which requires notification to the Department of Justice. That likely means Rod Rosenstein was aware of how thin this "predicate" actually was

A quick check of @Comey's own memos (which McCabe had AT THE TIME he opened the case) would have undermined this predicate instantly as Trump said to Comey it would be "good" for his "satellites" to be investigated. Comey himself admits this meant no obstruction up to this point!

As for the rest:
1. Comey himself admitted he could be fired for no reason, or any reason
2. Trump never actually stopped the Flynn case
3. Twitter? Really?
4. The full Lester Holt interview shows Trump saying he assumes firing Comey will lengthen the probe, not end it

So Trump wasn't "obstructing" the investigation (as Comey admits) into Collusion, then he suddenly decided to start obstructing it by firing Comey. Then he let it continue for 600+ days. And Collusion didn't even happen. Got it.

Occam's Razor says it's more likely McCabe simply retaliated against Trump for firing his boss, attacking his wife's ties to Clinton & passing him over as FBI Director. And to insulate himself from a pending IG probe into his media leaking. Rather than this 4D obstruction chess!

IMPORTANT: how did @Comey become a "witness" and his memos end up as central pieces of evidence in Mueller's obstruction case, and how was that allowed to go on for over 600 days, when the justification was thin as hell to start with?

/ENDS

N.B. McCabe is also who opened an investigation into Attorney General Sessions for lying to Congress

That probe was blatantly partisan and biased as at that same time (Q1 2017), **Comey was lying to Congress himself** about who kept the Russia probe hidden from Congress (he said it was Bill Priestap's idea, Priestap is 100% adamant it was Comey's idea). No probe into that though