ED HENRY, FOX NEWS: Andy McCabe says the disgrace is it took so long for him to be exonerated, is that right?
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): The disgrace is that Andrew McCabe is not going to be behind bars. Let’s remember he lied about leaking, and then he lied about lying about leaking. We can’t live in a world where an old FBI business card doubles as he gets out of jail free card when people break the law.
Especially when you see the – when folks were accused of lying like Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, they had the book thrown at him. So I think there’s probably a little swamp left to be drained at the Department of Justice and I’m hopeful that Attorney General Bill Barr will get the job done in that regards.
HENRY: So what happened did Bill Barr, the Attorney General let you and President down?
GAETZ: I wouldn’t make that allegation, there’s a lot of folks in the Department of Justice, remember Bruce Ohr still works there for goodness sake. So when you get down below the senior management I still think that there’s some work to be done to have folks who reflect I think the right views and values that the senior leadership at the FBI have.
I’ve total confidence in Bill Barr. I think that the Durham indictment, I shouldn’t say report but indictments will be effective in helping to drain the swamp over there but certainly disappointing news as to McCabe.
HENRY: But hold on Congressman you seem to be letting senior people of the Justice Department off the hook. We played a clip a moment ago of you with me on this program in September where you said “We’ve got McCabe dead to rights.” If you had McCabe dead to rights, why is he not being held accountable? The President and his team oversee the Justice Department?
GAETZ: The factual allegations that I made that you played before the break were born out in the Inspector General’s Report. So these aren’t allegations by House Republicans or the President. These are allegations by the FBI against the Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Whether or not the prosecution that are been brought forward to me is obvious, I think it should have been but remember, these prosecutions have to go before a D.C. Grand Jury. I believe there was a D.C. Grand Jury impaneled as to McCabe and it might very well been the case that they weren’t able to get an indictment.
That’s not the fault of the senior leadership of the FBI it is just the consequence of our criminal justice system.
HENRY: But Congressman you’re close to this President. What is his reaction tonight? We are seeing these reports that he’s furious about it. Have you talked to him? Have you heard about his reaction?
GAETZ: I’ve been on a plane haven’t spoken to the President. Today, I wished him Happy Valentine’s Day. But I suspect that he’s frustrated that Andrew McCabe will not face the consequence because, really, Andrew McCabe got the ball rolling on this investigation and I believe it was truly McCabe who converted this from a counterintelligence investigation that it was supposed to protect the President and protect the President’s Campaign into a criminal probe and McCabe had his own problems lying about his own leaks to the media.
HENRY: But Congressman, last question. You saw me interviewing this President in September at the wall near San Diego, California. And I pressed him about James Comey who he’s been hot about for a long time. He got a slap on the wrist even though as you say the Inspector General filed wrongdoing.
Now McCabe, Inspector General on the record found wrongdoing, lied under oath, all the rest of it. It got him fired. And yet he’s getting off the hook. Are you really confident tonight that John Durham, this prosecutor, is really going to hold people accountable?
GAETZ: Durham has different powers than were given to the Inspector General. He can actually bring criminal charges and it’s my expectation that he will, but obviously when you see Comey and McCabe, and you see Bruce Ohr for example still working at the FBI, it’s easy for the American people to wonder whether or not the FBI and the Department of Justice will truly go after their own. And when you get below the senior management may there is the case that those folks are getting leniency that they should not be allowed to get.
