Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will shut down his GoFundMe campaign after it raised more than half a million dollars. At the time of this article’s publication, the campaign had raised $551,186 of a $250,000 goal, raised by 13,169 different people in four days. The campaign began last Thursday.
McCabe was fired on March 16, just over a day before he would have been able to retire early with full benefits on his 50th birthday. McCabe will still get retirement benefits from the Bureau. He’ll just have to wait until he turns 57 before he sees them.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe after a recommendation from the Department of Justice’s office of the inspector general. The move was criticized by those who thought McCabe was fired to appease President Donald Trump, who frequently criticized him.
If McCabe had not been fired, he would have been eligible for a $60,000 pension a year. Over the course of the seven years, he will have to wait until he turns 57 to collect his benefits, that amounts to $420,000 – about $130,000 less than what he earned through the GoFundMe campaign.
Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept called the entire campaign “obscene,” pointing out that the campaign is raising money for a man who is married to a doctor and lives in a $715,000 home in Northern Virginia.
McCabe’s GoFundMe, which is run by the “Andrew McCabe Legal Fund,” will stop accepting donations at 7 p.m. tonight. According to a statement posted on the campaign page, “[t]he funds generated will in the very near future be transferred to a more formal legal defense trust.”
According to a statement posted on the page:
“The outpouring of support on GoFundMe has been simply overwhelming and has led to contributions that have left us stunned and extraordinarily grateful. The GoFundMe campaign began organically, with generous people spontaneously giving to accounts that others had set up. I never imagined that I would need to rely on this type of assistance. The fact is that if I am going to continue taking a stand against the unfair way I have been treated, I will need the help of a talented and courageous team behind me.”
