Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe claimed many members of the intelligence community are fearful of a potential second Donald Trump term, saying Wednesday that some are even considering fleeing the country.
McCabe, a CNN analyst, told "The Source" anchor Kaitlan Collins that there was an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty within the intelligence community over the prospect of Trump returning to the White House. According to the former FBI leader, officials believe Trump will seek retribution against his political enemies during his second term.
"It’s terrifying. It’s frightening," McCabe declared of how some officials view Trump’s possible return to power.
McCabe brought up Trump’s vow to his supporters that he "will be your retribution," and said that this will manifest in "really dismantling and greatly incapacitating the Department of Justice and the FBI."
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Collins asked how people in the FBI feel about Trump’s potential retribution, to which McCabe noted that it strikes fear into people in the intelligence community.
He said he was told by former colleagues, including some from the Obama administration, that they've had "torturous discussions with their family members about whether or not they have to leave the country to avoid being unconstitutionally and illegally detained."
"I mean, people are actually worried about being thrown in jail or grabbed in some sort of extrajudicial detention," he said.
The former FBI man acknowledged that though that sounds "crazy," it should be considered a possibility.
McCabe served under former FBI director James Comey during the sprawling federal investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion and briefly took over as acting director after Trump fired Comey in 2017. McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018. He later sued, claiming his dismissal was politically motivated, and eventually had his pension restored.
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Former FBI special agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker weighed in on McCabe's comments, telling Fox News Digital that McCabe seems to be sharing the views of a certain group of FBI agents "who have used and abused their law enforcement authority to push their political or social agendas and have not fairly or equally enforced the law."
She said the rest of the people in the bureau are "hardworking, typically rank-and-file employees who joined the Bureau to protect Americans, uphold the Constitution and equally enforce the law. They have stayed true to their sworn oath. And want nothing to do with cases that seem to be targeting and aggressively investigating only those on one side of the political spectrum."
Parker added that, as opposed to the former, the latter group is "not terrified by a Trump administration."
"In fact, I think most would welcome a new administration to come in and make the FBI and DOJ great again," she declared, adding her opinion that "Trump potentially dismantling and incapacitating and tearing down the FBI and DOJ" is "exactly what the FBI and DOJ needs."
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"With strong leadership at the helm, the FBI needs to humbly acknowledge their past mistakes and areas to improve," Parker said.
During an interview Wednesday with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump addressed his line about retribution, stating he won’t be seeking political revenge for the good of the country.
"Number one, they’re wrong," he said. "It has to stop, because otherwise, we're not going to have a country. Look, when this election is over, based on what they've done, I would have every right to go after them, and it's easy, because it's Joe Biden and you see all the criminality, all of the money that's going into the family and him, all of this money from China, from Russia, from Ukraine."
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The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
