Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL): "Positive Step" McCabe Stepping Down
Congressman Darren Soto, who represents Florida’s 9th district, applauded news Monday that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down from his post, calling him a “distraction” to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“We just need to make sure we keep this investigation with integrity and with accuracy, because we want to have the right results,” Soto told Cheddar in an interview. “I think that it’s a positive step that he’s no longer going to be involved and no longer will be an excuse.”
The news follows an Axios report last week that FBI Director Christopher Wray was pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump to fire his second in command. Trump and other Republicans claimed that McCabe, whose wife ran for office in Virginia as a Democrat and received donations from Hillary Clinton, had a conflict of interests in the Russian investigation.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that the White House had no involvement in McCabe’s decision. But the New York Times reported that Wray had suggested the move after months of pressure from the administration.
McCabe’s resignation is effective immediately, but he will remain on the payroll until March, when he was already expected to retire with full benefits.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-darren-soto-shares-his-expectations-for-president-trumps-first-state-of-the-union-address).
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez returns to court Monday to enter an expected not guilty plea to a conspiracy charge alleging he acted as an agent of the Egyptian government when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hamas militants on Friday freed two Americans -- a mother and her teenage daughter who had been held hostage in Gaza since militants rampaged through Israel two weeks ago, the Israeli government said.
A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after a disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud case was allowed to linger on his campaign website after the judge ordered it deleted.
Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial on charges accusing him of participating in efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia.