Trump reportedly asked deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election
- President Donald Trump in 2017 reportedly had a meeting with then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and asked who he voted for in the 2016 US presidential election.
- McCabe reportedly found the question "disturbing," according to one former official.
- Trump reportedly had a second meeting with McCabe to interview him for the FBI director role, but had no interest in hiring him.
President Donald Trump reportedly had a meeting in the Oval Office with then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and posed a question McCabe found "disturbing," according to one former official cited in a Washington Post report on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly asked McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 US presidential election, according to current and former officials in the report.
The meeting, held after former FBI director James Comey's firing in May, initially appeared to be an introductory meet-and-greet, until Trump began making pointed remarks about McCabe's wife's political aspirations. Dr. Jill McCabe, who ran as a Democrat for a Senate seat in Virginia, and her campaign received $675,000 in donations from the Virginia Democratic Party and a super PAC operated by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was a supporter of Hillary Clinton, Trump's 2016 rival.
Although Trump had reservations about McCabe temporarily running the FBI in Comey's absence, he reportedly agreed to it because "there were no immediate better choices," a White House official said to The Post.
Trump eventually had another meeting in the Oval Office where he interviewed McCabe for the director position. The second meeting was reportedly brief, and Trump is believed to have had no intention of selecting McCabe for the position.
Trump has since railed against McCabe and his wife on Twitter, calling McCabe a "Comey friend" and accusing him of political bias.
Trump would eventually nominate Christopher Wray as the new FBI director. Wray was confirmed by the Senate in August. More recently, he has reportedly threatened to resign after being pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire McCabe, according three sources cited in an Axios report Monday.
The report follows other news of Sessions' pressure on Wray and former FBI general counsel James Baker, ostensibly to make way for a "fresh start" at the FBI.