Ex-FBI chief Andrew McCabe: ‘I think it’s possible’ Trump is a Russian asset

While promoting his book The Threat, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe has spoken at length about the investigation into Donald Trump's ties to Russia.

McCabe first opened the investigation shortly after the president fired then FBI director James Comey, and on Tuesday night, he made it clear he still questions where Trump's loyalties lie.

When presenter Anderson Cooper asked if he believes Trump could be a Russian asset, McCabe replied, "I think it's possible. I think that's why we started the investigation."

Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a witch hunt, and has even gone after McCabe personally on numerous occasions calling him a liar. But, according to McCabe, it was the president's own actions that prompted the investigation in the first place.

【ギャラリー】Key Trump officials, advisers of note in the Russia probe27

"We thought that a potential threat to national security might exist," McCabe said. "That being that the President of the United States may have attempted to obstruct justice in his efforts to thwart and impede our investigation of Russian influence, and if he had done so, why? Why would any American president try to stop the FBI from investigating what the Russians might have done to our election?"

McCabe believes he was fired in March of last year because he opened an investigation into Trump, but he said he stands by that decision, adding, "Presented with facts, we made hard decisions, decisions we knew would be tough on the organisation, would be tough on us personally. Look what I have gone through as a result of those decisions. But we did them anyway because we were committed to our responsibilities and serving this country."