The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump

This polished combination career retrospective, manifesto about the FBI's value, and rebuttal to Donald Trump's smears tells former FBI director McCabe's side of the story. The narrative toggles between stirring descriptions of McCabe's career as an FBI agent (one of what he calls the "t-crossing, i-dotting, shoe-leather-destroying beasts") and his stint as acting FBI director after President Trump fired James Comey, concluding that the "work of the FBI is being undermined by the current president." Highlights of McCabe's career include taking down Russian mobsters (teeing him up for commentary about interference in the 2016 election), tracking down terrorists, and responding to the Boston Marathon bombing. Of those in Trump's administration, McCabe describes attorney general Jeff Sessions as obsessed with finding a nonexistent "immigration angle" on counterterrorism and, worse still, berating the FBI for things that were actually the Justice Department's remit; he also recounts deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein's agitated denials that firing Comey was his idea. The account is laced with sharp, amusing characterizations (special counsel Robert Mueller "is not%E2%80%94and I think he would admit this, probably while feigning slight resistance for comic effect%E2%80%94Mr. Casual") and pleasingly idiosyncratic turns of phrase ("a clownfish-crammed saltwater aquarium of a situation"). McCabe comes off as levelheaded and principled; while his views about the "danger" posed by digital privacy protections may put off some readers, fans of police procedurals will love his descriptions of FBI culture, and critics of the current administration will find his denouncements satisfying. This is one of the better Trump-related tell-alls. (Feb.)