McCabe, #2 at FBI leaves as RussiaGate nears the White House

History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. The President of the United States (US), Donald John Trump, is acting just like a building contractor who hires and fires anyone who is not toeing his line. Andrew McCabe, who was the #2 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official, has decided to go on “terminal leave”, a euphemism for running out the rest of his tenure in the FBI, which ends in March, according to reliable sources.

But Trump gets what he wants – he wanted to say once more in the real life, “You are fired!” and McCabe beat him to that by going on terminal leave.

Is the President starting to tarnish various government agencies just because they don’t seem to be seeing things the way he is? It is a given that when a new President is sworn in, he (or she in the future) forms his (her) own committee of confidants and governs. But the founder fathers of the US were wise. The ensured in the Constitution the powers for making decisions rested solely with the Congress (and the Senate to some extent). The President can merely suggest/ demand from them. Executive orders by the President do not stand up in the courts (witness the Travel Ban) and therefore any law that gets passed must have the concurrence of all three entities (President, Congress and the Senate).

This latest departure seems to have come about after the developments of the last week as Robert Mueller, Special Counsel was getting ready to question the President. Republicans in the Congress have been trying to deflect the topic by pointing to some text messages between FBI officials that suggested a bias at the agency[1]. This despite the Department of Justice (DoJ) defending Mueller and the FBI.

But Trump gets what he wants – he wanted to say once more in the real life, “You are fired!” and McCabe beat him to that by going on terminal leave.

Citizens are concerned about the damage to institutions that Trump and his coterie are inflicting and it will take time to undo this. For the sake of the country, Mueller should conclude his investigation into RussiaGate quickly and let the country move forward.

[1] McCabe out as FBI’s No. 2 – Jan 29, 2018, Politico.com