Andrew McCabe calls Patel’s rationale "not entirely believable"

Former FBI Deputy Director; CNN senior law enforcement analyst

In 21 years in the FBI, this issue never came up... the fact that the director is using this as a way to kind of soften the blow... is not entirely believable in my estimation. The idea that the FBI director would put his own credibility and judgment on the line over something as esoteric and irrelevant as protecting victims of bestiality who might happen to want to work for the FBI is really unconscionable to me.
Open source (opens in a new tab)CNN Inside Politics: FBI hiring-standards hearing segment and Andrew McCabe interview

Source and context

Reporting

CNN Inside Politics: FBI hiring-standards hearing segment and Andrew McCabe interview (opens in a new tab)

About this source

Same-day broadcast transcript containing verbatim video-clip transcriptions of the hearing exchange plus a full on-air interview with Andrew McCabe. Marked by CNN as a rush transcript that "may not be in its final form."

Before the quotation

Speaking on CNN’s Inside Politics the same day as the hearing, as a former FBI Deputy Director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst.

After the quotation

McCabe added that this kind of self-inflicted controversy is "not something that past FBI directors want to encourage."

How this statement is classified

Condemned

Case context: Kash Patel defends FBI’s removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for bestiality, prostitution, and employee theft

The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.

Why this label?

McCabe directly denounces Patel’s rationale as not credible and the episode as "unconscionable," an express criticism of Patel’s defense of the policy.

Recorded on
Published here
People and groups discussed
Kash Patel, Federal Bureau of Investigation

More from this case

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John Kennedy

Why would you even get into bestiality?... So you disqualified the animal?... But you’re not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal, they can still be an FBI agent?
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Dick Durbin

You dropped automatic disqualification for applicants who have been engaged in bestiality, not victims of bestiality – applicants who have engaged.
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Kash Patel

We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked... Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so.
Read statement