FBI official at center of 'quid pro quo' flap tells his side of the story

FBI official tells his side of the story about "quid pro quo" flap
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

On Monday, retired FBI official Brian McCauley became a central figure in the 2016 presidential race, even though his name was redacted in the relevant FBI documents and neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump was mentioned. On Tuesday, McCauley told The Washington Post that there was never a "quid pro quo" discussed between himself and State Department official Patrick Kennedy, and that the phrase appearing in the summary notes of an FBI investigation into Clinton's emails was due to a misunderstanding by another FBI official.

McCauley, then the FBI deputy assistant director for international operations, said he had been trying to reach Kennedy for weeks about placing two more FBI employees in Baghdad, and in May 2015 Kennedy called him back. "He said: 'Brian. Pat Kennedy. I need a favor,'" McCauley tells The Post. "I said: 'Good, I need a favor. I need our people back in Baghdad.'" Kennedy told him the favor, McCauley recalled: "There's an email. I don't believe it has to be classified." McCauley said he told Kennedy he would look into it, but when he found out it was about Benghazi, "I said, 'Absolutely not, I can't help you,' and he took that, and it was fine."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.