A federal judge on Thursday denied Attorney General William Barr’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe claiming he was “unlawfully demoted” and fired, Law & Crime reports.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sided with McCabe, saying on Thursday that he would allow the lawsuit to continue and establish a schedule for discovery and other proceedings.
McCabe argued that he was demoted and “fired from his career civil service position in March 2018—on the night of his planned retirement … based on his perceived political affiliation, decision not to vote for then-candidate Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and unwillingness to pledge his personal loyalty to President Trump,” violating his First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The Department of Justice argued that “the Court lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiff's statutory and regulatory claims, while his constitutional claims fail on both the law and the facts. Most significantly, Defendants contend that Plaintiff was not fired because of his perceived political affiliation, vote in the 2016 presidential election, or refusal to pledge personal loyalty to the President but because he lacked candor (including under oath) in an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Inspection Division and the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General.”
However, the judge determined that the department’s arguments were “premised on a misunderstanding of the claims that Plaintiff asserts (and does not assert)” and found that the “remainder of the motion turns on disputed questions of fact that the Court cannot resolve at this stage of the proceeding.”
He concluded, “In short, it is too early in the case to determine which, if either, of the parties’ competing versions of the relevant facts is correct.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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