Five takeaways from Andrew McCabe’s 60 Minutes interview

During his wide-ranging interview with ’60 Minutes,’ Andrew McCabe recounted his final months at the FBI, from the hours after James Comey was fired to his assertion that President Donald Trump may have an “inappropriate relationship” with Russia.

Trump on Monday blasted McCabe, a Republican who was fired last March as FBI deputy director just a day before he was set to retire.

“Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught,” Trump tweeted, appearing to point to McCabe’s assertion that Justice Department officials had discussed asking the Cabinet about potentially invoking 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

More: McCabe says FBI had good reason to open counterintelligence investigation into Trump

25th Amendment:It’s never been used, but ex-FBI head says officials thought about it

Here’s what you need to know from the interview:

Rosenstein and the 25th Amendment

According to McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the issue of invoking the 25th Amendment, asking McCabe if he believed other Cabinet officials would “support such an effort.”

“He was discussing other Cabinet members and whether or not people would support such an idea, whether or not other Cabinet members would, shared, his belief that the president was — was really concerning,” McCabe said.

McCabe also noted that Rosenstein offered to wear a wire into the White House, though he said he “couldn’t characterize” what Rosenstein hoped to accomplish.

Reports about Rosenstein considering wearing a wire and invoking the 25th first surfaced last year. The Justice Department has flatly denied the reports, including McCabe’s own assertions.

Investigating Trump and Russia

McCabe said Trump’s actions, such as asking FBI Director James Comey to discontinue the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the subsequent firing of Comey, led to a counterintelligence investigation.

“So all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder, is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia?” McCabe said.

“Are you saying that the president is in league with the Russians?” Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes” asked.

“I’m saying that the FBI had reason to investigate that,” McCabe replied.

Trump and Putin

McCabe went further into Trump’s relationship with Russia, discussing the way the president spoke about Vladimir Putin.

According to McCabe, Trump had dismissed concerns about North Korea’s ballistic missiles because Putin had told him they didn’t have the capability of reaching the United States.

“Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses, to which the president replied, ‘I don’t care. I believe Putin,’” McCabe said. “…It’s just an astounding thing to say.”

What happened after Comey was fired

Comey’s abrupt firing in May 2017 meant McCabe, who had worked for two decades at the FBI, was now acting director.

McCabe described being called to the Oval Office, during which Trump told him that people were “thrilled” about Comey.

“And he said, ‘I heard that you were one of the people that did not support Jim Comey. You didn’t agree with him and the decisions that he’d made in the Clinton case. And is that true?’ And I said, ‘No sir. That’s not true. I worked very closely with Jim Comey. I was a part of that team and a part of those decisions.’”

McCabe described this as the “wrong answer.”

McCabe’s memos

When asked how he had such clear memories of his interactions with Trump, McCabe replied that he was trained to make memorandums so he could recall those interactions.

Pelley asked what had become of the memos.