In the category of excellent news for public servants in a (semi) functioning democracy, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has prevailed in winning back his full federal pension and retirement benefits.
Biden’s Justice Department has opted to settle the case rather than face McCabe’s federal lawsuit in which he alleged he was fired for partisan political reasons in a bum’s rush orchestrated by the DOJ’s former AG Jeff Sessions in appeasement of the bellowing FG and executed literally in the hours just preceding McCabe’s scheduled retirement.
AP reports:
As part of the settlement, the federal government has agreed to rescind and vacate McCabe’s firing, deem him as having retired in good standing, restore his full retirement pension and record him as having been employed continuously between 1996 until his actual retirement day. <snip>
“For 140 years, civil servants like Andrew McCabe have been the federal government’s backbone, pledging their loyalty to the Constitution rather than to any politician or political party,” Murad Hussain, a lawyer for McCabe, said in a statement. “This settlement and the district court’s rulings make clear that attempts to corrupt the federal workforce through partisan intimidation and improper political influence will not go unanswered,” he added.
As a result, the federal government is also now on the hook to pay for the half-million in attorney fees to the legal firm who represented McCabe; that law firm intends to donate that money to its foundation:
Mr. McCabe thanked his lawyers at the firm of Arnold & Porter, who will receive more than $500,000 in legal fees paid by the government. The firm intends to donate the money to its foundation, which provides scholarships to minority law students, among other things.
“What happened to Andrew was a travesty, not just for him and his family, but the rule of law,” said Murad Hussain, one of Mr. McCabe’s lawyers. “We filed this suit to restore his retirement benefits, restore his reputation and take a stand for the rights of all civil servants, and that’s exactly what this settlement does.”
Yep. Andrew McCabe upheld his responsibility to the Constitution in the face of what must have been unfathomable pressures from a dangerous megalomaniac.
That’s not to say he hasn’t been a mixed bag ethically regarding his fudging on candor during the leak investigation against him. However, amid the tsunami of corruption, intimidation and crime promulgated by the prior administration, even a pre-schooler could see that McCabe was attacked and fired in a politically-based retaliation for his role as the senior FBI official heading the Russia investigation, and admirably, he had the guts to stand up against the belligerent bully’s abuse:
“It was Trump’s unconstitutional plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents,” his lawsuit asserted, adding that McCabe’s firing “was a critical element of Trump’s plan and scheme.”
So it’s a breath of fresh air to now see a fair resolution to his pension case.
It’s also a cautionary tale that to preserve and improve the institutions of U.S. democracy requires both robust funding plus agencies whose cultures promote vigorously independent, rule-of-law supporting civil servants---who will sometimes turn out to be imperfect human beings---but who in my opinion still remain the essential “mortar” helping to stabilize the pillars of our democracy.