Offering the latest installment of her deep-seated disdain for President Trump, MSNBC’s Deadline: White House host Nicolle Wallace blasted the President during Wednesday’s show as “a bleep-hole” for considering whether to terminate Andrew McCabe before his official retirement from the FBI.
Wallace’s self-censored vulgarity came after Associated Press correspondent Jonathan Lemire opined that the President (via Attorney General Jeff Sessions) “should not” be able to fire him since Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Lemire explained more:
But firing now would perhaps deprive him of that pension, I believe as the article makes a good point and I think that one could argue this is perhaps the President's way of getting a little vengeance, a little revenge for his alleged ties to the Clintons, alleged ties, his wife's ties to Terry McAuliffe, the former governor — the Governor of Virginia has also, of course, ties to both Clintons. And that the President himself has said to Sessions — he holds Sessions so responsible for this Russia probe, for recusing himself in the first place and that this is perhaps a way he's dangling whether he said it or not, to get back into his good graces by following through here and firing McCabe.
A flustered Wallace then exclaimed to fellow MSNBC Republican Charlie Sykes: “I don't know how to ask this without swearing, so I'm going to ask you as best I can and I will bleep. Don’t worry, control room. Is the President this much of a bleep-hole?”
To Sykes’s credit, he didn’t completely agree with Wallace. While he went along with her “bleep-hole” line, he mentioned that “this recommendation comes from career Justice Department employees through the Inspector General's office” and “we don't know what the details are about his lack of candor which is a firing offense in the FBI.”
Sykes conceded to Wallace that McCabe’s firing and taking his pension would “look, petty, vindictive, and [be] designed to discredit the FBI, including in the Russia investigation...[b]ut I guess I would like to know more about what the Inspector General found.”
Wallace moved to former DNC official Doug Thornell and, sure enough, she found someone who completely agreed with her as Thornell claimed that Hillary Clinton was the “one person who was hurt by information leaking out about the FBI investigation.”
“So, this whole idea that there’s this deep state conspiracy among the Justice Department and FBI to take down Donald Trump — it's all — bull-s,” he later added, which left Wallace giggling.
Earlier this week, Wallace gleefully took apart what she dubbed the “mythology at the White House” that the President has any sort of “humanity” in his body. This venom came just as frequent MSNBC guest Donny Deutsch trashed Trump as a “sociopath.”
(h/t: Mediaite)
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Deadline: White House on March 14, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
March 13, 2018
4:27 p.m. EasternNICOLLE WALLACE: I mean, so, Donald Trump put the fix in for Andy McCabe and what turned up in the I.G. report is he helped shape the story, which is a term of art inside government when we talk to people like you, Matt Appuzzo. He’s helped shape the coverage of a story that ended up being devastating for his opponent before the election.
MATT APUZZO: Yeah, I mean, McCabe has become the bête noire of the Trump administration and many Republicans who have — who have this idea that he was at the center of this sort of secret society, it's been called the deep state —
WALLACE: A secret society —
APUZZO: — inside the FBI.
WALLACE: — to sink Hillary Clinton's campaign?
APUZZO: A secret society — no — well —
WALLACE: I understand that they're enraged about the Justice Department, but they’re also uninformed about the Justice Department. Andy McCabe is the guy that authorized the FBI public affairs office to talk to people like you about how his agents who revere him, as far as I understand, had deep suspicions about the Clinton Foundation. That seems like the kind of guy Donald Trump should want to promote.
APUZZO: Well, I mean, the problem is that McCabe's wife ran unsuccessfully to —
WALLACE: As a Democrat.
APUZZO: — for the Virginia state senate as a Democrat, even though McCabe has identified himself as a lifelong Republican voter. So this is like — as a conspiracy theory, you have to thread a lot of needles here. But in the end, you know, in the next two days, we're going to learn the fate of a 21-year FBI veteran and normally this might be a pretty pro-forma thing given the recommendation from the Office of Professional Responsibility inside the FBI. But as usual, the President has complicated things by weighing in and as the tweet you mentioned, and sort of goading McCabe, but we know that, privately, he — he teased McCabe and said — I mean, NBC broke the story first saying, oh, your wife's a loser because she lost that election. So, a lot of this is now wrapped up in every decision that happens on McCabe's fate. He's a potential witness in the Russia investigation. He was there at the beginning of the Russia investigation. So, it's all wrapped up in one, you know, one big tangle that's going to have to get sorted out in the next two days.
WALLACE: Jonathan Lemire, should an A.G. who is recused from the Russia investigation have the prerogative to fire one of the central witnesses in the Russia investigation?
JONATHAN LEMIRE: I mean, Jeff Sessions certainly is with McCabe more than a central figure, right, in that —
WALLACE: He’s recused.
LEMIRE: — he’s recused himself.
WALLACE: But you have a decision about — I mean, Andy McCabe corroborates a lot of James Comey's testimony. Should Jeff Sessions have — be in a position to fire him?
LEMIRE: He should not. The president has put immense pressure on Jeff Sessions on this issue. He wants McCabe fired. He wants him — he does see his —
WALLACE: But he's leaving Friday. This is —
LEMIRE: — that's right. But firing now would perhaps deprive him of that pension, I believe as the article makes a good point and I think that one could argue this is perhaps the President's way of getting a little vengeance, a little revenge for his alleged ties to the Clintons, alleged ties, his wife's ties to Terry McAuliffe, the former governor — the Governor of Virginia has also, of course, ties to both Clintons. And that the President himself has said to Sessions — he holds Sessions so responsible for this Russia probe, for recusing himself in the first place and that this is perhaps a way he's dangling whether he said it or not, to get back into his good graces by following through here and firing McCabe.
WALLACE: I don't know how to ask this without swearing, so I'm going to ask you as best I can and I will bleep. Don’t worry, control room. Is the President this much of a bleep-hole?
CHARLIE SYKES: Well, I think that’s been established. I don't actually think that's breaking news. You know, it is important to remember this recommendation comes from career Justice Department employees through the Inspector General's office.
WALLACE: I'm not questioning the recommendation.
SYKES: Right, right.
WALLACE: I'm questioning the timing.
SYKES: Right and we don't know what the details are about his lack of candor which is a firing offense in the FBI.
WALLACE: Of course it is.
SYKES: But having said that, his —
WALLACE: — and he's leaving. I don't think that's being debated.
SYKES: Right. This is — this will obviously, look, petty, vindictive, and designed to discredit the FBI, including in the Russia investigation and you know that there’s no way that Donald Trump is not going to tweet in all caps all about this. There's no question that Jeff Sessions is going to feel that kind of pressure. But I guess I would like to know more about what the Inspector General found, but this is going to be messy, but it gives the President just enough pretext to go ahead and do this.
WALLACE: And you think firing someone for leaking bad information that reflected badly on Hillary Clinton is a home run in the post-fact world that is Trump's base?
DOUG THORNELL: Well, that's the whole insane thing about this thing, right? I worked on the 2016 campaign and if you remember, there is only one person who was hurt by information leaking out about the FBI investigation, and that was Hillary Clinton. There was an ongoing FBI investigation into Trump collusion with Russia back in July of 2016.
WALLACE: Right.
THORNELL: You never heard anything about that. In fact, it was denied. So, there was only one candidate who was hurt due to actions of FBI officials, and that was Hillary Clinton. So, this whole idea that there’s this deep state conspiracy among the Justice Department and FBI to take down Donald Trump — it's all — bull-s.
[WALLACE LAUGHS]
SYKES: I agree with that.
WALLACE: Very quick, last word.
SYKES: But again, you know, what is exactly is he charged with? I mean, we can have — I think we can have a clear opinion about this —
WALLACE: No and I don’t think — I don’t —
SYKES: — because no one can lie to the FBI, including the FBI.
WALLACE: — well and I'm not disputing anything about Matt Apuzzo’s report. The question is Donald Trump put this in motion 90 days ago with a tweet. The IG report found what it found. I'm not hearing anybody dispute that. My question is he was leaving on Sunday. This is about firing him.
SYKES: It’s mean-spirted.
WALLACE: — and depriving him of his pension. Well, it’s worse than that.
SYKES: Yeah.
