Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has offered to testify at an upcoming congressional hearing on the FBI and Justice Department’s handling of a probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, in exchange for legal immunity from prosecution.
An attorney for McCabe wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to request a guarantee of immunity for the former deputy director’s testimony before the panel, The Hill reports. The attorney added that should McCabe be made to testify otherwise, he would plead the Fifth.
“Under the terms of such a grant of use immunity, no testimony or other information provided by Mr. McCabe could be used against him in a criminal case,” the attorney, Michael Bromwich, wrote to the panel’s chairman, Chuck Grassley.
Several other former officials have also been requested by Grassley to testify before the Judiciary Committee to discuss an internal Justice Department report, which some say will show a number of missteps regarding the Clinton email investigation.
Sources say that former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch are among those invited to appear before the panel to discuss the inspector general’s report which has not been released yet. However, considering that McCabe is under investigation for lying to federal investigators, the stakes for his testimony are particularly higher.
“Mr. McCabe is willing to testify, but because of the criminal referral, he must be afforded suitable legal protection. This is a textbook case for granting use immunity,” Bromwich wrote to Grassley.
If McCabe invokes the Fifth instead of answering certain questions, it could set up a contentious confrontation with lawmakers, who could serve the former No.2 at the FBI with a subpoena, eventually enforcing it through civil action in federal court.
The Judiciary hearing has been set for next Monday since the inspector general’s report is not public yet, but it could be delayed. Sources familiar with the report describe it as a massive undertaking of roughly 500 pages.
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