Reviews for The Threat

by Andrew G McCabe

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

The hottest disclosures from former FBI acting director McCabe were revealed in his 60 Minutes interview two days before this book was even released. After that, McCabe has seemed to be everywhere, discussing the disconcerting nature of the Trump presidency, comparing it to the Mob (many of whose members he has investigated). On television and in the book, he has chronicled what it felt like for him and his wife to be the butt of Trump's withering tweets and the shock of being fired a day before he was to retire with benefits. But this is so much more than the airing of a personal vendetta (though it's also that). McCabe brings readers along as he gets the urge to join the FBI and undergoes the intense training, and then he offers an almost ""you-are-there"" account of the stress that working cases like the Boston Marathon bombing puts on an agent. Along the way, he offers insight into many people with whom he has worked, including former FBI directors James Comey and, intriguingly, Robert Mueller. Most important, this book is a primer on how the FBI works and why its independence is an essential part of the American justice system. In a chapter entitled ""The Attorney General Guidelines,"" McCabe goes step-by-step through how a case is investigated, documented, and reviewed, noting the high bar for authorizing surveillance and warrants. McCabe's pride in process seems almost quaint, considering the times, but the case he makes for maintaining norms is both solid and thoughtful. Significantly, he doesn't hesitate to acknowledge mistakes, like the Comey press conference on the Clinton emails.--Ilene Cooper Copyright 2019 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This polished combination career retrospective, manifesto about the FBI's value, and rebuttal to Donald Trump's smears tells former FBI director McCabe's side of the story. The narrative toggles between stirring descriptions of McCabe's career as an FBI agent (one of what he calls the "t-crossing, i-dotting, shoe-leather-destroying beasts") and his stint as acting FBI director after President Trump fired James Comey, concluding that the "work of the FBI is being undermined by the current president." Highlights of McCabe's career include taking down Russian mobsters (teeing him up for commentary about interference in the 2016 election), tracking down terrorists, and responding to the Boston Marathon bombing. Of those in Trump's administration, McCabe describes attorney general Jeff Sessions as obsessed with finding a nonexistent "immigration angle" on counterterrorism and, worse still, berating the FBI for things that were actually the Justice Department's remit; he also recounts deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein's agitated denials that firing Comey was his idea. The account is laced with sharp, amusing characterizations (special counsel Robert Mueller "is not-and I think he would admit this, probably while feigning slight resistance for comic effect-Mr. Casual") and pleasingly idiosyncratic turns of phrase ("a clownfish-crammed saltwater aquarium of a situation"). McCabe comes off as levelheaded and principled; while his views about the "danger" posed by digital privacy protections may put off some readers, fans of police procedurals will love his descriptions of FBI culture, and critics of the current administration will find his denouncements satisfying. This is one of the better Trump-related tell-alls. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In a news-making memoir, former FBI head McCabe recounts his interactions with a corrupt governmentour ownthat uses "the power of public office to undermine legal authority and to denigrate law enforcement."Early on, the author reproduces his 1995 FBI employment application, which cites an arrest for purchasing alcohol with a fake ID and calls him an average student in law school, if one with "a strong interest in criminal law." That much is abundantly clear, as he recounts how he secured a post with the FBI, "the nemesis of criminals." It is also clear on which side McCabe's loyalties lie. After Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey in an "improvised and slapdash" travesty, he installed McCabe as acting directorand then fired him, too, just shy of his being able to retire with a pension. (A lawsuit is pending.) Throughout the book, newsworthy moments come fast and furious: Trump is frenetic and angry, and his style and signaling fuel "a strain of insanity in public dialogue that has been long in development." He is vindictive, insecure, and corrupt. More than once, he demanded to know who McCabe voted for. He governs by tweet and insult: As the author stalwartly notes of tweets directed to him, "it is meaningless to be called a liar by the most prolific liar I have ever encountered." More to the point, and now corroborative more than newsbreaking, is McCabe's matter-of-fact assurance that Russia interfered in the U.S. election in ways that put Trump in office. No matter the degree of collusion on the American side, Trump has consistently sided with Russia against the American intelligence community. "He thought that North Korea did not have the capability to launch [intercontinental] missiles," writes the author. "He said he knew this because Vladimir Putin had told him so."Evenhandedly, McCabe assures readers that the threat of the title will not prevail thanks to the rule of law, even if Trump is doing all he can to destroy it. Somber, urgent, necessary reading for anyone paying attention. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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