Andrew McCabe made the rounds on TV to promote his new book and got repeatedly confronted for being a liar instead

Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director, is making the rounds to promote his latest book, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."

Two of his stops so far haven't gone very well at all.

What are the details?

On Tuesday, McCabe appeared on "The View," where a very skeptical co-host Meghan McCain confronted him.

In 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe after a report discovered that McCabe reportedly lied about leaking information to reporters regarding the bureau's investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

McCabe has denied any charges of misconduct to date.

During the interview, McCain asked McCabe up front whether he was a source for The New York Times.

"I don't believe you're a reliable narrator, and I'm not convinced this isn't just some kind of PR campaign to stop yourself from getting indicted," McCain began. "You were fired at the recommendation of the FBI — which, in your book, you cite four times how great of an organization it is — for your lack of candor."

She added, "I would like you to say right here on national TV that you were not a source for The New York Times. You were never a source for The New York Times, or any other publication, considering that is what you were accused of lying about."

McCabe, who looked extremely uncomfortable, answered, "Absolutely not, not at any time, ever."

"When I was serving as deputy director, I was one of two people in the FBI that had the authority to disclose information to the media," he explained. "That is an FBI policy, it's baked into the way that we run media relations in the organization. So I transacted on issues regarding the media every single day."

McCain pushed even harder.

"Then why did [former FBI Director] James Comey deny the claim that he approved your leaks to the press?" she demanded.

McCabe fired back by putting the blame on Comey himself.

"I don't know why Jim Comey doesn't remember the conversations that we had in the same way that I do. It is understandable. He was under an enormous amount of stress at the time," he reasoned. "He had a lot of other, kind of, more important things to worry about."

"I can't explain why he doesn't remember them the same way I do," he repeated.

What about the 'Today' show?

McCabe also appeared Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show, where he spoke to co-host Savannah Guthrie at length.

Guthrie asked McCabe, "Did you tell the 'Gang of Eight' that you had opened a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump?"

The "Gang of Eight" refers to the party leaders in each Congress chamber. At the time, the "gang" would have included former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), former House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y).

The 2017 briefing with McCabe was to update the lawmakers with information on what strides, if any, the FBI made in the Russian election interference.

"The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what we'd been doing," McCabe told Guthrie.

He admitted that he ordered the investigation, but said that he wasn't the only one to do so, noting that he'd consulted all of the proper people before going ahead.

Guthrie responded by asking whether any of the senior Democrats or Republicans balked at the idea of the investigation.

"No one objected," he insisted. "Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts."

McCabe later added, "Opening a case of this nature [is] not something that an FBI director, not something that an acting FBI director would do by yourself, right? This was a recommendation that came to me from my team. I reviewed it with our lawyers. I discussed it at length with the deputy attorney general, and I told Congress what we had done."

Guthrie also asked McCabe why people should believe him after reportedly being fired for lying to the FBI.

"Why should anyone believe you when you were fired from the FBI for lying?" she asked.

McCabe responded by explaining that he believes he was fired for opening an investigation into the president.

"I read the Inspector General's report. That suggests the Inspector General is in on it and firing you for — basically making up a pretext to fire you. Is that what you're suggesting?" Guthrie interrupted.

McCabe said that he ultimately disagreed with the report.

"I have big problems with that report, I disagree with the conclusions they drew, and that is something I'll be raising in a civil lawsuit I'll be bringing against the Department of Justice," he responded.

Guthrie wasn't to be deterred, and responded by noting that the report alleged McCabe was caught lying on "four different occasions."

"I mean, that's not just 'Well, we didn't understand, I'm not sure, I was distracted,'" she said. "That's four separate occasions in which the Inspector General says you were not forthcoming, you did not tell the truth."

McCabe deferred to his aforementioned pending civil lawsuit against the DOJ.

"I would love to walk through every one of the points that I have for each one of those things they said in that report," he answered. "But I can't do that to you — with you this morning because of the lawsuit we're about to file."

You can read more on the background here.