President Trump made an unusual request of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe during a phone call last year, NBC News reported Monday.
Apparently incensed by the image of James Comey boarding an FBI plane the day after Trump fired him as FBI director, Trump called McCabe, then the acting director of the bureau, to express his outrage, NBC News reports.
McCabe told the president that though he had not greenlit Comey's flight, "if anyone had asked, [I] would have approved it," NBC News reports. That prompted Trump to be "silent for a moment," NBC News says, before he turned to insulting McCabe's wife, telling McCabe to "ask his wife how it feels to be a loser."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
McCabe reportedly replied rather neutrally, saying, "Okay, sir." McCabe's wife Jill ran for state Senate in Virginia in 2015, losing her bid. Trump has launched months of attacks against McCabe because his wife accepted campaign funds from former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a supporter of Hillary Clinton, during her run.
An unnamed White House official denied the report to NBC News, saying, "This simply never happened. Any suggestion otherwise is pure fiction." The FBI declined to comment to NBC News. McCabe resigned as deputy director of the FBI on Monday.
Read more at NBC News.
-
Testosterone therapy in women highlights the lack of women’s health researchThe explainer There is no FDA-approved testosterone product for women
-
Magazine solutions - November 7, 2025Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 7, 2025
-
Magazine printables - November 7, 2025Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 7, 2025
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
