Donald Trump could be considered a Russian asset, though not in the traditional sense of an active operative or recruit, a former FBI deputy director who worked under a former US president has said.
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI who was fired by Trump in 2018, was asked on a podcast whether he thought Trump might be a Russian agent and replied, “I do.”
He added: “I don’t know that I would describe it as an (active) recruited, knowledgeable asset in the sense that people in the intelligence community would. But I think Donald Trump has given us a lot of reason to question the approach to the Russia issue in the United States. And I think his approach to his interactions with Vladimir Putin — his phone calls, his face-to-face meetings, what he’s said about Putin in public — all raise serious questions.”
McCabe was appearing on the podcast “One Decision,” co-hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, the former director of British intelligence agency MI6.
In the conversation, McCabe also questioned Trump’s support for Ukraine and NATO in the face of Russian aggression, and the conversation was recorded ahead of Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, where Trump made some more controversial comments.
Trump has argued that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were president, and he will not say that a Ukrainian victory would be in the US’s interest.
“I think it’s in the best interest of the United States to end this war, get it over with,” he said, “and negotiate a deal.”
Trump has claimed to have good relationships with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and falsely said his opponent, Kamala Harris, had failed to avert war through private negotiations.
The vice president countered that he “helped preserve the ability of Zelensky and the Ukrainian people to fight for their independence. Without that, Putin would have been sitting in Kiev and turning his attention to Poland and the rest of Europe.”
In one of the most memorable remarks of the night, Harris added: “And then I’d like to tell the 800,000 Polish Americans here in Pennsylvania how readily you would give up yourselves for the friendship and favor of a man known as a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”
The candidates were not asked about a recent indictment in which the Justice Department said pro-Trump figures were paid to promote pro-Russia talking points.
McCabe briefly served as acting director and was the FBI’s top official during the agency’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties between Trump and Moscow. Trump fired McCabe in March 2018, two days before he was scheduled to retire. McCabe subsequently became the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations that he lied about leaks to the media. The investigation was dropped in 2020. In October 2021, McCabe settled his lawsuit against the Department of Justice. McCabe, who wrote a best-selling autobiography, “The Threat,” now works as an academic and commentator.
“You have to seriously wonder why Donald Trump has a fawning admiration for Vladimir Putin that no other American president, Republican or Democrat, has,” McCabe said in an interview with One Decision.
“I think the issue is always a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue, which is always going to happen. And then on the other end of the spectrum, I think there’s some kind of relationship, or a desire for some kind of relationship, whether that’s economic, whether that’s business-oriented, whatever.
“I think those are possibilities. None of them have been proven. But as an intelligence officer, they’re things to think about.”
McCabe said he had “very serious concerns” about the possibility of a second term for Trump and that he remains concerned about Russia’s ability to interfere in U.S. affairs.
He said: “Their desire to wreak havoc and negatively impact our political system has been going on for years and decades.
“They’re just interested in causing chaos and division and polarization. If they can do that, it’s a win. If they can actually hurt a candidate they don’t like or help a candidate they do like, that’s an even bigger win.”
