Donald Trump’s Rivals Lash Out Over “Cowardly” Firing of Deputy FBI Chief

“When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known…”

Chris Kleponis/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Democrats are laying into Donald Trump after he had Attorney General Jeff Sessions fire deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe late Friday night, only days before McCabe was set to retire with full benefits. While Trump considered it a victory, leaders on the other side of the aisle had harsh words for the president.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who is on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump would be fired soon.

John Brennan, who led the CIA from 2013 to 2017, fired back at Trump saying he would go down in history as a “disgraced demagogue.”

And Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said on Fox News that McCabe’s firing “looks very much like it was vindictive and political.” 

Trump antagonist Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) was more serious than usual, alluding to legal action from McCabe and calling his punishment unfair.

Trump, who previously had former FBI chief James Comey fired in a humiliating fashion—Comey learned of his ouster from TV news—gloated after the late night announcement, calling the firing a great day for democracy.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate