Rep. Mark Pocan, who offered fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe a job in a bid to save the veteran agent's pension, Monday said his staff has talked to McCabe's people, and he is offering him a "very legitimate offer" as a check against President Donald Trump's "thug-like" behavior.
"What the president did was one of the biggest, I think, character flaws that we see in him," the Wisconsin Democrat told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" anchor Andrea Mitchell.
"He just lacks human decency. It was cruel the way he did this, to fire someone literally hours before they would have got their pension. So, we need to be a check in the balance of this system."
With McCabe, Pocan said his office hopes that it can make sure he and others can't be threatened with the loss of their federal pension if they do something Trump doesn't like.
Pocan said it's not yet certain how long McCabe would be working, but his office would make sure he remained long enough to get the pension.
"It's important work that we'd love to have him do, with his invaluable background," said Pocan.
"But it's also — don't forget, the president did this to try to interfere with [special counsel Robert] Mueller's investigation. He wants to send a signal that anyone who crosses him, he's not going to just hurt you, he's going to hurt your family, he's going to hurt your future. He's going to go after your pension."
The lawmaker told Mitchell he grew up in a lower middle-class family, and "when you are threatening pensions, you are sending a message. It's thug-like behavior."
On Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe, just two days before his retirement date.
Trump, in turn, called McCabe's firing " a great day for democracy."
While announcing the decision, the Justice Department said an internal investigation found that he had made unauthorized disclosures to the media, and had not been fully honest "on multiple occasions" with the department's inspector general.
"We've made a very legitimate offer to work on election integrity," said Pocan Monday. "It's a nonpartisan issue. And if Andrew Mccabe would like to work for us, we want to make sure he gets his pension after many years of service to this country."
Pocan also called on Republican leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stand up against Trump and for McCabe more than they are.
"I'm glad others also made offers," said Pocan. "I don't necessarily care if he comes to work for me or not, just as long as he can get his pension. But we have to let people know, don't be intimidated by someone trying to stop you from talking and doing your job because again, that's cruel behavior and it's unbecoming of a president."
Pocan said he's also not worried about what may be in an inspector general's report about McCabe, and added that Ryan can show he's "not on the staff of the White House" by backing a bill being proposed to protect Mueller from being fired before his investigation concludes.
"I would hope that they would rise to do this because we all need to send a message regardless of partisan affiliation, that this investigation needs to go forward," said Pocan.
"As [Sen.] Lindsey Graham and a few other Republicans have said, we would have a constitutional crisis if Mueller is fired. I think we need more of us to stand up and say it. "
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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