Matt Gaetz lauds Andrew McCabe resignation as ‘a step forward’

Matt Gaetz is everywhere (at least for Fox viewers).

Monday saw a victory for the Donald Trump administration and its Congressional defenders when FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stepped down.

As CNN pithily described it, “McCabe had become a central target of President Donald Trump’s ire toward the FBI over its involvement in the investigation into potential collusion between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.”

McCabe, slated to step down in March, has been said to be using accumulated leave. Members of the Florida Congressional Delegation have been among the staunchest Trump White House defenders, and the first to respond was Pensacola Rep. Matt Gaetz.

“The news that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down is a step forward. The past several weeks and months have seen worrisome evidence of bias and wrongdoing at the FBI come to light, including Peter Strzok’s ‘insurance policy’ that was discussed in ‘Andy’s office.’ This behavior is not befitting of America’s premiere law enforcement agency, which, like Justice itself, must be impartial,” Gaetz asserted via statement from his Congressional office.

“The FBI must do what it can to move forward with a clean slate. McCabe’s resignation was the right choice, and a step in the right direction. I will continue fighting on behalf of the American people to expose and eradicate corruption within the FBI and Department of Justice — equal and fair treatment under the law is the cornerstone of American values, and must be upheld at all times,” Gaetz added.

Gaetz has scrutinized what he and other Republicans perceive to be a tilt toward Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign from the FBI and the Department of Justice, and McCabe stepping down will allow the White House to select someone more attuned with Republican views on these organizations.

In December, Gaetz called attention to “extreme pro-Hillary Clinton bias” in the FBI, spotlighting on Fox News a McCabe email that denoted a “headquarters special.”

Per the Pensacola News-Journal, the “headquarter special” was an indication that “the normal processes at the Washington field office weren’t followed and he had a very small group of people that had a pro-Hillary Clinton bias who had a direct role in changing the outcome of that investigation from one that likely should have been criminal to one where she was able to walk.”