Judge allows Andrew McCabe's wrongful firing lawsuit against DOJ to move forward

A federal judge ruled fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the Justice Department should be allowed to move toward discovery, rejecting the Trump administration’s efforts to dismiss the case brought by the key Russia investigation leader.

Judge Randolph Moss, who has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since a 2014 nomination by then-President Barack Obama, issued a 45-page ruling on Thursday rejecting the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss McCabe’s lawsuit and moving it toward summary judgment. Moss argued that it was too soon to decide whether the government or McCabe was right, and therefore, the case should proceed for now.

“The Complaint asserts five claims based on alleged violations of the First Amendment and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment,” Moss wrote. “Defendants move to dismiss, in part, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and, in part, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and move, in the alternative, for summary judgment, in part. In Defendants’ view, the Court lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ statutory and regulatory claims, while his constitutional claims fail on both the law and the facts. Most significantly, Defendants contend that Plaintiff was not fired because of his perceived political affiliation, vote in the 2016 presidential election, or refusal to pledge personal loyalty to the President but because he lacked candor (including under oath) in an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Inspection Division and the DOJ’s Office of Inspector