Ex-FBI official warns Trump could be a Russian asset: ‘His approach with Putin raises significant questions’

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said Trump has ‘a fawning admiration’ for Vladimir Putin in a way ‘no other president – Republican or Democrat has’

A former top FBI official has warned that Donald Trump could be a Russian asset if he wins the 2024 election, saying the Republican presidential candidate’s approach to Vladimir Putin raises “some very serious questions.”

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired by Trump in 2018, was asked on a podcast whether “there is a possibility Trump is a Russian asset.”

He responded: “I do.”

“I don’t know I would characterize it as [an] active recruited knowing asset in the way people in the intelligence community think of that term,” he told the OneDecision podcast.

“But I do think that Donald Trump has given us many reasons to question his approach to the Russia problem in the US.”

McCabe also said the Republican presidential nominee has “a fawning admiration” for Russian dictator Putin in a way “no other president has.”

In the past, Trump has wildly claimed Putin “would never have gone into Ukraine” if he were president and has touted his “very good relationship” with him several times.

A former FBI official warns Trump could be a Russian asset if he wins the election. Trump is pictured with Putin in 2018 (AP)

“Putin would’ve never gotten into Ukraine, but that’s just on my relationship with him,” he said last year.

“My personality over his. I was the apple of his eye and I would say, ‘Don’t ever do it.’ It was tough stuff there but he would have never done it.”

McCabe told the podcast that these kinds of comments “all raise significant questions” about the former president when it comes to his stance on Russia.

“His approach to interacting with Vladimir Putin, be it phone calls, face to face meetings, things that he has said in public about Putin all raise significant questions about why he has this attitude and acceptance of Putin and off-handed comments of support to Putin,” he told OneDecision.

McCabe also questioned Trump’s stance on the US’s support for Ukraine in the war against Russia as well as his attitude towards Nato, which he said raises “some very serious questions” about why Trump “seems so much more accepting and supportive” and “has this fawning admiration for Vladimir Putin in a way that no other president – Republican or Democrat – ever has.”

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe (testifying in 2017) has said Trump could be an asset to Russia if he wins the election (Getty Images)

“It may just be from a fundamental misunderstanding of this problem set,” he continued.

“That’s always a possibility, and I guess the other end of that spectrum might be that there is some kind of relationship or a desire for a relationship of some sort.”

When he took office in 2016, Trump’s relationship with Russia loomed over his presidency and the Mueller Inquiry was launched to investigate allegations his campaign had colluded with Russian intelligence operatives.

Special counsel Robert Mueller ultimately concluded that Russia did interfere with the 2016 election but “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The inquiry did however find hundreds of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 campaign season.

During Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, Trump refused to say whether a Ukraine victory over Russia was in America’s best interests.

Instead, he said: “I think it’s in the US’s best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. Negotiate a deal.”

Kamala Harris, meanwhile, argued she had contributed to “preserv[ing] the ability of Zelensky and the Ukrainians to fight for their independence,” adding: “Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe.”

The candidates were asked about the war in Ukraine during Tuesday’s debate (AP)

Speaking on the podcast, McCabe also warned that “violence and unrest” could sweep the US if Trump loses the election in November.

“I do have very serious concerns about what will happen in this country first if Trump loses a close election,” he said. “I think we could be in for a very unstable time here in the country… we could have the possibility of violence and unrest.”

The former FBI official touched on the legal ordeal he himself endured after he was fired by Trump in 2018 in what he claims was a “politically motivated” move by the then-president.

“I know what it feels like to be targeted by Donald Trump. I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a campaign political vendetta,” he said.

McCabe was the subject of a criminal investigation, which spanned more than a year, after he was fired by Trump.

The probe began following a referral from the Justice Department’s inspector general, which said McCabe repeatedly lied about having authorised a subordinate to leak information to the media.

In 2020, the Justice Department closed the case against McCabe, declining to seek charges.