ANDREW MCCABE

The New York Times made headlines with its report suggesting former President Trump targeted James Comey and Andrew McCabe through IRS audits, which an IG probe debunked.

WASHINGTON — (AP) — A watchdog investigation initiated after the tax returns of two former FBI directors were subjected to intensive audits during the Trump administration has concluded that the reviews from those years were conducted at random. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday that its review had determined that the Internal Revenue Service had selected tax returns at random for its National Research Program audits in 2017 and 2019. The NRP program is designed to select tax returns at random for an intrusive audit as a way to measure “compliance for different types of taxes and various sets of taxpayers,” according to the inspector general report. McCabe, then his deputy, replaced Comey on an acting basis but was fired the following year by the Justice Department. Comey declined to comment, and a lawyer who has represented McCabe did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

"There's no question that the work environment for FBI people has been getting tougher and tougher," McCabe said of the agency on CNN's "New Day."

U.S. Tax Commissioner Charles Rettig, who was appointed by President Trump in 2018, will face questions behind closed doors from lawmakers in the House and Senate before the end of the month.

James B. Comey and Andrew McCabe became highly paid self-employed taxpayers, who are likelier to be audited by a research program

The New York Times reported Comey and McCabe were selected for intensive audits under the National Research Program.

Trump Russia Probe Tax Audit FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill Washington, Dec. 17, 2018. The commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service has asked the Treasury Department’s inspector general to immediately review the circumstances surrounding intensive tax audits that targeted ex-FBI Director James Comey and ex-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. IRS spokesperson Jodie Reynolds said Thursday that IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig had personally reached out to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Reynolds said the agency has officially referred the matter to the inspector general. The newspaper said Comey was informed of the audit in 2019 and McCabe learned he was under scrutiny in 2021.

The IRS commissioner has asked the Treasury Department’s internal watchdog to immediately review the circumstances surrounding intensive tax audits that targeted ex-FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Two leading fores of former President Donald Trump, ex-FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, were subjected to rare tax audits.

Two former FBI officials targeted by Trump were also targeted by the FBI. How unlikely is that? Very.

Energy and Environment Reporter Josh Siegel joins Jim Antle to discuss expected rises in natural gas costs.

The White House on Friday said it will lift COVID-19 travel restrictions for fully vaccinated foreign nationals effective Nov. 8, ending historic restrictions that had barred much of the world from entering the United States.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, but few countries recognise it statehood. The territory of 4.5 million is fiercely proud of its independence, but three decades on, the lack of official status hobbles economic hopes.

Former President Donald Trump is clinging to his "Big Lie," saying this week Republicans will not vote in the upcoming midterm and general elections until alleged voter fraud in 2020 is "solved." Historian Timothy Snyder joined CBSN with a look at the potential threat those unsubstantiated claims pose to our democracy.

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, he was skewered from some quarters of the GOP for opening the door to the passage of the Democrats' 3.5 trillion dollar reconciliation bill. But McConnell, ever the strategic thinker, may yet prove prescient. His calculation that Senators Manchin and Sinema won’t budge on passage of the massive entitlement bill is so far proving correct. As Doug McKelway reports, widespread economic malaise and President Biden’s falling popularity only strengthens Manchin and Sinema’s hand.

For about 15 years, Mireya Villarreal has been on the front lines of the immigration story, covering every dimension of the issue, on both sides of the southern border. She shares a personal reflection on what it's been like -- as a journalist and a mother.

"I didn't know what a marathon was until today", says one of a group of Syrian orphans taking part in a race in the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib. The event has been organised by an NGO in a bid to introduce children who have lost their parents in Syria's ongoing conflict to different kinds of sports. Nearly 500,000 people have died in the conflict since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.

Former President Bill Clinton was admitted to a Southern California hospital on Tuesday with an infection but he is “on the mend,” his spokesman said.

McCabe was fired in 2018 after multiple public attacks from Trump. In a lawsuit against the Justice Department, he alleged the firing was political.

He was fired in 2018 after the DOJ concluded he had authorized the release of information to a newspaper reporter and then misled investigators.

McCabe always insisted he was targeted in a campaign to discredit the former special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election.

FBI McCabe FILE - In this June 7, 2017, file photo, former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCabe, who was fired by President Donald Trump after allegations that he misled the Justice Department's inspector general, has won his pension back under a settlement with the federal government. He sued in 2019, saying his firing was part of an effort by Trump to purge the FBI of officials he perceived as disloyal. McCabe became acting director of the FBI after Trump fired James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As part of the lawsuit, the federal government has agreed to rescind and vacate McCabe's firing, deem him as having retired in good standing and restore his full retirement pension.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has won back his full pension as part of a settlement of his lawsuit arising from his firing during the Trump administration more than three years ago.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has won back his full pension as part of a settlement of his lawsuit arising from his firing during the Trump administration more than three years ago, his lawyers announced Thursday. McCabe, a frequent target of then-President Donald Trump's ire, was fired in March 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the Justice Department's inspector general determined he had misled internal investigators about his involvement in a news media leak. McCabe has denied intentionally deceiving anyone, was never criminally charged and blasted his firing as politically motivated.

The Trump administration fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on the eve of his retirement in 2018. McCabe then sued over his termination.

During an appearance on CNN, McCabe told anchor Jim Acosta that Trump's comments about an unnamed Capitol Police officer were "incredibly dangerous."

“Since not a single proven fact ever established complicity with Russia involving Dr. Page, there never was probable cause to seek or obtain the FISA Warrants targeting him on this basis,” the lawsuit says, using the acronym for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The lawsuit to some extent echoes the conclusions of a Justice Department inspector general report that found significant problems with the four applications. In the complaint, Page accuses the FBI of relying excessively for information on Christopher Steele, a former British spy whose research during the 2016 campaign into Donald Trump's ties to Russia was funded by Democrats. The suit names as defendants the FBI and the Justice Department, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and additional officials who were involved in the Russia investigation.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., questions former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, on a probe of the FBI's Russia investigation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump may have lost his bid for reelection, but that hasn’t stopped Senate Republicans from pressing forward with their politically charged probe of the FBI’s Russia investigation. “This is a last ditch, desperate undertaking to deal with President Trump’s grievances about that election,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said of the hearing. Most of the criticism of the Russia investigation has centered on flaws in applications to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Even so, a Justice Department inspector general report from last year concluded that the Russia investigation was opened for a valid and legitimate purpose.

Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday about the 2016 Russia probe. He defended the decision to open the investigation, while acknowledging errors in requesting wiretap warrants for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The Justice Department renewed the Page warrant three times, including during the early months of the Trump administration. McCabe authorized the FBI investigation into President Trump's ties to Russia after the president fired former FBI Director James Comey, making him a recurring target of Mr. Trump and his allies. "The Russians were successful beyond their wildest imagination in accomplishing their goals in 2016," McCabe said.

The hearing was part of a review of the Russia probe by the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee. Though Comey acknowledged the FBI’s shortcomings in the surveillance of Page, he also described that aspect of the probe as a “slice” of the broader Russia investigation, which he defended as legitimate and valid. The inspector general report, and documents released in recent months, have raised questions about the reliability of that research. Comey defended the investigation, which was opened after a campaign adviser boasted that he had heard Russia had damaging information about Clinton. But Republican lawmakers have seized on the critical aspects of the watchdog report to cast broader doubt on the Russia investigation.

WASHINGTON – Former FBI Director James Comey will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, appearing just a month before the presidential election as Republicans have tried to make the case that he and his agency conspired against Donald Trump in 2016. Comey, whom Trump fired in May 2017, will be a featured witness in Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham’s investigation into the origins of the Justice Department’s Russia probe. His report also examined several instances in which Trump tried to obstruct his investigation but said he could not come to a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Republicans, and Trump himself, have repeatedly said they believe the department was conspiring against the president before and after the election. Graham, a close ally of Trump, said Thursday that “the day of reckoning is upon us” when it comes to the beginning of the Russia probe.

This cover image released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media shows "Compromised Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump" by Peter Strzok. The book will offer an insiders view on some of the most sensational and politically freighted investigations in modern American history, including into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the presidential election. Strzok briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team but was removed from his role after the Justice Department inspector general flagged derogatory and pejorative text messages about Trump that Strzok sent and received during the 2016 campaign. In a statement announcing the book, the publishing company said the Trump administration used his private expression of political opinions to force him out." Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department prosecutor who served on Mueller's team, is due out with a book in September.

They ask Attorney General William Barr about elder fraud. Democrats have suggested he should be impeached and are holding hearings into what they say is the politicization of the Justice Department under his watch. Then, when Bush was elected, Barr joined the Justice Department first as assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Counsel, then as deputy attorney general, and finally as attorney general. The actions have resulted in open letters signed by thousands of Justice Department alumni who have demanded Barrs resignation. He points to the Justice Department inspector generals report that found flaws in how the FBIs Russia investigation was conducted.

The committee rarely moves forward on subpoenas without bipartisan support, and hasnt done so in more than a decade. Democrats have argued that the errors in the surveillance do not invalidate the Russia investigation, which ultimately found that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election but found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy with Trumps campaign. The list also includes some current officials who dealt with the investigation, including Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Grahams investigation is one of several diving into the Russia investigation, a subject that has followed Trump throughout his presidency. The Justice Department has its own internal probe separate from the inspector generals investigation, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is also looking at the matter.

WASHINGTON WASHINGTON (AP) Two Republican-led Senate committees have launched election-year investigations into the Justice Departments Russia probe, resurrecting the issue at the urging of President Donald Trump while reigniting the partisan hostility that comes along with it. In a Senate office building next door, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved its own slate of three dozen subpoenas related to the Russia probe over strong Democratic objections. Speaking on the committees investigation, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told Johnson that I continue to be concerned that this is politically motivated even as he voted to move ahead. The president has continued to rail against the Russia probe, which he calls a hoax. Among the names on that list is Trumps Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, who was vice president when the Russia probe began.

The list also includes some current officials who have dealt with the probe, including Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The June vote would not be to subpoena the officials but to authorize Graham to do so. Aware that the top Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, would oppose the move, Graham said he would hold a vote instead. The Russia investigation began within the FBI during the 2016 election and was taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller a year later. Among the names is Trumps Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, who was vice president when the Russia probe began.

Washington Attorney General William Barr is bringing in an outside team to challenge the work of his own prosecutors in the case of Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the Justice Department's decision. The Justice Department confirmed that Jeff Jensen, a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis, is working closely with Flynn prosecutor Brandon Van Grack to review the case. The review of Flynn's case comes as prosecutors drop their investigation of Andrew McCabe, the former deputy FBI director and a frequent target of the president. The president argued he had "the legal right" to get interfere in Justice Department investigations. They said it's "not credible" for him to claim to oversee the Justice Department in an independent manner.

The Department of Justice said Friday that it has dropped its criminal investigation against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and will not press charges against him. The DOJ's internal watchdog concluded that McCabe "lacked candor, including under oath" when answering questions about the leaks. "We are pleased that Andrew McCabe and his family can go on with their lives without this cloud hanging over them." Trump targeted McCabe throughout the two year Mueller probe, frequently attacking both the FBI agent and his wife, Jill McCabe, on Twitter. Trump seized on the donations as proof that McCabe was protecting his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, and using the F.B.I.

McCabe's assertion Tuesday night means that if he's indicted, he will almost certainly contest the charge before a jury in federal court. The Justice Department's independent inspector general, who looked into the incident, found McCabe had lacked candor on four occasions when he spoke to investigators about the leak. The inspector general then referred the matter to the FBI. "I absolutely reject the findings" of the inspector general, McCabe added in his roughly 10-minute interview with Cuomo. McCabe told Cuomo on Tuesday that he has heard nothing more about a possible indictment since that flurry of activity.

Ten Democratic presidential candidates debated for three hours in Houston. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. Ive been smoking cigars 85 years.Read the full column here. (Charles Hillinger / Los Angeles Times)AdvertisementCALIFORNIA A Los Angeles deputy city attorney killed his wife and son in their Northridge home Wednesday and tried to kill his daughter, who escaped before he took his own life, authorities say. It feels like a little sting, but so do Botox shots.If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends.

(CNN) - The Justice Department has rejected an appeal from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of a recommendation to indict him made by the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., sources familiar with the situation say. The U.S. attorney has been scrutinizing alleged false statements McCabe made to investigators regarding his involvement in a newspaper report about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation published days before the 2016 presidential election. The U.S. attorney, Jessie Liu, recommended that McCabe should be indicted, and in a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the Justice Department late last month, McCabe's attorneys argued against that recommendation, one of the sources said. On Thursday, a senior DOJ official sent McCabe's legal team an email saying that that appeal had been rejected, according to a second person who is close to the legal team. His attorneys say that any charges against him would be driven by politics and retaliation from President Donald Trump for the FBI's scrutiny of his administration.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of Trumps ire, has sued the FBI and the Justice Department over his firing. In the aftermath, he was the last employee to leave the place he has called a second home for 21 years. FROM THE ARCHIVESOn this date in 1974, President Nixon became the first president to resign from office. (Bloomberg)ONLY IN L.A.Malibus beloved roadhouse Neptunes Net tastes like the wave that just broke your board, columnist Chris Erskine writes. If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice on Thursday over his 2018 firing, which came just over 24 hours before he planned to retire, alleging the punishment was "politically motivated and retaliatory." The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington. It names Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, as well as the DOJ and FBI, as defendants. It comes the same week that another longtime FBI official who was fired from the bureau, Peter Strzok, brought suit alleging unlawful termination. McCabe's public firing by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on March 16, 2018 was a "critical element" of the scheme, according to the suit.

Andrew McCabe suing FBI over his firing Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has sued the FBI and Justice Department over his 2018 firing, claiming his right to due process was violated and ultimately blaming President Trump. McCabe filed the suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.