Shortly after President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey, he asked acting chief Andrew McCabe whom he voted for in 2016 – and complained about the campaign donations his wife got from a Hillary Clinton ally, The Washington Post reported.
According to the Post, which cited unnamed officials, McCabe told the president he did not vote, but found the conversation "disturbing."
One source told the Post the conversation is of one of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller.
According to the Post, Trump expressed his concerns to McCabe about his politics but consented to his becoming acting FBI director on the advice of others — and because "there were no immediate better choices," one source said.
Trump then had a second meeting with McCabe in the Oval Office to interview him for the position of FBI director. That meeting was brief, and it was clear Trump had no intention of giving McCabe the job, the Post reported, citing another source.
And nearly a year later, Trump still harbors a dislike of McCabe, the Post reported, with the president frequently complaining about him and labeling him a Democrat.
Still, critics have questioned why McCabe took on oversight of two critical cases related to Clinton — a probe into her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state and an investigation into donations made to the Clinton Foundation, the Post noted. When McCabe became Comey's deputy in February 2016, his wife's failed election had been over for three months.
Nevertheless, at the end of October 2016, as the election neared and the FBI faced intense public scrutiny over McCabe's role, he recused himself from the Clinton probes.
His conduct is now the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, and a report is expected in the spring, the Post reported.
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