JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The acting head of the FBI said Thursday that the firing of James Comey has not affected his agency’s investigation into whether associates of President Trump colluded with Russian officials to influence last year’s presidential election, and he promised to speak up if there is any effort by the White House to impede the wide-ranging probe.
“As you know, the work of the men and women of the FBI continues despite any changes in circumstance,” Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “There has been no effort to impede our investigation today. You cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., asked McCabe whether he would commit to informing the committee if the White House makes any moves to “quash” or otherwise impede the FBI’s Russia-related investigation.
“I absolutely do,” McCabe responded.
Noting that Comey — not McCabe — was supposed to be testifying at Thursday’s hearing, Warner said, “Trump’s actions this week cost us an opportunity to get at the truth, at least for today.”
Warner called Comey’s firing Tuesday as FBI director “shocking” and “especially troubling.”
As Thursday’s hearing got underway, two Republicans — Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. — also alluded to the controversy surrounding Comey’s firing.
Burr told McCabe, “Welcome to the table and into the fray,” and he thanked McCabe for “filling in on such short notice.”
McCabe was just one of several top U.S. officials testifying Thursday before the committee, which was holding a broad hearing on threats to the U.S. homeland and U.S. interests around the world.
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