Director. The white house is dropping the criminal investigation against him without bringing charges. He was under scrutiny for two years over a leak to a reporter. President trump has been angry about the decision. I spoke with Andrew Mccabe shortly before we came on the air tonight. Heres the interview. How did you get the news . You know, i was down in southwestern virginia at a swim meet for one of my kids and i got an email from my attorney who said that they had out of the blue been contacted by the district, the dc u. S. Attorneys office who said they needed to get on a phone call within the next 30 minutes. So they let me know and not expecting that sort of contact, we all immediately thought the worst. So my wife and i left the swim meet and went out to the car to be able to, you know, take the phone call in a place that was quieter and we just sat and stared at the clock and i started thinking about how this would play out. They were likely going to tell me that i had been indicted, i needed to surrender, make arrangements for that, how those things are done and we just sat and stared at the clock until we knew while we knew the phone call was taking place. At about 11 35 this morning my lawyers called and said, is jill there . We need you both to hear this together. And he said, theyre dropping the case. Its over. I mean, it we were just stunned. We were just absolutely stunned. This has been such a such a terrible experience. Its been so stressful on my fami family, on my wife and children, and to suddenly have that, you know, terrible kind of cloud hanging over your head all of a sudden in the stroke of a pen disappear is just remarkable. Honestly, don, i have a lot of conflicted feelings about it. As glad i am that they made the decision that they made which is the right decision and would have been the right decision two years ago, its just an absolute disgrace and a dishonor on the department of justice and the dc u. S. Attorneys office that they took so long to get to this very obvious conclusion. I was just going to ask you. I dont know if it feels like vindication or if its im sure its mixed emotions. Probably vindication, huge relief and stunned that the department or the government that you worked for and serviced did service work for so long to come after you like this. I mean, this took two years, andrew. Why did it take so long . Two yeah. Theres absolutely no reason for it to have taken that long. To answer your question, i mean, absolutely a huge relief, but i did not need to be vindicated. This should never have happened. I knew all along and have said from the beginning, if they simply followed the law and the fac facts, that this thing would go away. There would be no prosecution. There was no reason to do this. It was a simple matter. Very few people to talk to. If they went to investigate it they could have done that quickly and could have come to the obvious conclusion there was no case here. Why it took so long for doj and the department to do that, you know, i cant tell you. I have my own theories about that. Im sure that they would probably spend a lot of time about trying to figure out what to do with this investigation knowing that doing the right thing would incur the significant ire of the United States. One white house official says the president is fuming that you werent charged. We saw similar complaints over director comey. What goes through your mind that the most powerful person in the world wants you behind bars and is appearing to use his own Justice Department to go after a political rival, if you will . You know, thats the truly insidious part of it. The fact that this president doesnt understand how the Justice System works and how you dont just you dont just demand that perceived political enemies be thrown in jail and to be conducted fairly. Grand jurys goat ab opportunity to weigh in. He doesnt understand any of that. The Justice Department certainly does. The fact that they have played a they have been complicit in this politicization of the most sacred work is really, really concerning. You dont have to look at just my case. Not just about me. This is a much bigger issue about what kind of influence this president has had on the department of justice through attorney general barr. Im glad you said that because there are many people who have been not just the administration or the Justice Department but just in this political environment and being accused of things and having people believe it when its not true and you cant defend yourself because its a legal situation. I dont think people understand just how hopeless or how you feel about that, that you cant even defend your own self and that youre being wrongfully persecuted. I dont think many people can understand how that feels except a few people in this political environment. Thats absolutely right. I am a little bit lucky and be a little bit crazy. I took a fairly unconventional tact with this entire position. I have weighed in about things that are important, about justi justice, about investigations and what were all experiencing today through the really concerning things that have been happening and thats you know, that was taking a significant risk, but, you know, i believe very strongly from the beginning that i had nothing to fear. I dont know if this is possible, but did you ever want to take some sort of plea or bow out . For you to want to do this, im sure youre worried, im sure youve aged to be honest. Also it took considerable resources monetarily for your family. Its brutal, don. To answer your question, the answer is an absolute unqualified no. I never at any time considered ever agreeing to or clinging to anything having to do with this case. Absolutely should never have been brought. We obviously know that now and i was prepared to take this the distance to a trial in court in d. C. If that was necessary, which is a frightening prospect, right in the but when you have faith in what you know, what youve done, there comes a time where you have to stand up for that and, look, im just obviously very glad for the way things turned out today. Andy, what do you think of the timing of this . Is it at all convenient . This is coming after impeachment after the roger stone decision, the same way we hear a. G. Barr is examining the flynn case and stop tweeting because hes undermining his position as the attorney general. What do you think of the timing . Its really concerning. Its hard to define partially because there are so many things happening in the same very compressed time period. Theres no question the president has been on this kind of, you know, tour of retribution following his impeachment acquittal. As soon as i saw that happening to colonel vind land and his brother and ambassador sondland, i knew things would probably heat up for me. I was buckled in ready for bad things to happen to me. But clearly there has been a lot of turmoil invoked within the Justice Department over the decision to retract the original recommendation in the roger stone sentencing and i you know, it certainly seems like the attorney general is in a position to want to kind of calm some of that down certainly with his statements to abc news was an attempt to do that. Whether or not announcing this decision to me played a role in that, i cant say for certain, but its certainly a good question. Andy, if you had to do it all again, would you still have opened the case against donald trump . I mean, was it worth the hell that you have been put through . Without a doubt, don. It was absolutely the right thing to do then and i would do it again tomorrow if i was in the same situation and looking at the same facts. What look, what we have seen through the multiple investigations so far, all of the work of the i. G. Looking at everything each one of us did, the decisions we made, the communications, millions of documents. Even the biggest critics have said we were authorized to do what we did. In my judgment it would have been a dereliction of duty. We are guilty of doing our jobs and nothing else. I have to go, but i want to ask you. Was it your son or daughter in the swim meet and how did they do . Its my daughter and she had a great race today. She dropped some time and swam a personal best. Good day in the mccabe household. Good day for the mccabe family. Andy, thank you so much. We really appreciate you doing this. Thanks, don. It was great. Thanks for having me on. One of my next guests knows a lot about the kind of pressure Andrew Mccabe has been under. Appreciate all of you joining us this evening. Well talk on the other side of the break. Danceoffs. More travels. Or more touchdowns. Get the immune support that gives you more. Airbornes crafted blend has vitamins, minerals and herbs. And no gummy has more vitamin c. Airborne. Lets get down to business. The business of atlanta on monday. Cincinnati on tuesday. Philly on wednesday. And thursday back to cincinnati. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business keeps going, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. To hear Andrew Mccabe tell me the case against him should never have been brought. You heard me say he and his colleagues were only guilty of doing their job, why did it take two years for the department to drop it. On the other side of the break i said welcome. John, im going to start with you. Andrew mccabe has been under intense scrutiny. Threatened with jail for over two years. You heard the interview. You can identify with that kind of pressure and what his family what theyre feeling tonight. Its relief tonight. Its been an awful two years for them. Not to mention how trump arranged to have him removed from the fbi two years before the retirement kicked in. I think he has a civil suit on that. One of the bigger things, don, thats happened to him is this is not going to go away. The president s apologists are going to stay after him. The conspiracy theorists are going to be there. When you take on a president , his followers never go away. They dwindle but they never give up. Max, the judge was told months ago that the case was pending but it wasnt announced until today. Was this all about the president wanting to keep mccabe dangling for political reasons . Its certainly quite possible. Don. I dont think we know what happened. As andy mccabe said, theres good cause to think that the Justice Department was reluctant to announce that this would antagonize the president. Quite possible they decided to make the announcement today simply because of the perception that justice has been compromised, that the president is polite sizing these decisions. Somebody at the u. S. Attorneys office in washington wants to show this is not the case. I think its very good news that they are not going to prosecute andy mccabe, but lets keep in mind that beyond the formal mechanisms of prosecution donald trump is still persecuting andy mccabe, he is still persecuting jim comey and lisa struck. We have never seen a president vilify private individuals in the way that trump does, especially individuals for a lifetime civil servants, members of the fbi. Its absolutely disgusting what the president does and he continues to do it even though his charges have been disproven by the Inspector General and Justice Department. So my heart really goes out to these men and women who have served this country for all of these years. What they have had to go through because of President Trump is n unconscionab unconscionable. I want to talk about the timing in all of this. This announcement comes on the same day that barr announced the reexamination of Michael Flynns case. Are we supposed to think this was a coincidence . I think it was. This was a case where they felt there wasnt enough to move forward with the criminal aspect of the mccabe case, but its really important to keep in mind and put it in perspective while clearly this is a huge relief for mccabe and his family, its important that this cloud did not come out of complete thin air. This came from unclassified leak of information and he went forward and provided false information and even the fbi itself has said that he lacked candor and gave misleading information four times, three times under oath. So this is an important aspect of this. So he is not completely without scrutiny here. That is an important aspect of this. Clearly as weve gotten to this point, two years later there has been a situation where they feel as though its not worthy of not moving forward. Max, do you want to respond to that . Well, clearly, there was some question about whether mccabe had testified untruthfully under oath. I think there was a legitimate ground for investigation. According to the Inspector General michael horowitz, i cant see any justification for the two years and i cant see any justification for the vile vilification andy mccabe and his fellow fbi agents have undergone at the hands of donald trump. Doug, i want to bring you in. Again, you know, its michael bisikoff that said it started from an obama appointee, started the investigation. Doug, listen, when you look at whats happened with roger stone and michael 234ri7b; this Justice Department being vilified . Absolutely. Do the bidding of the president. I mean, there were high hopes that barr would be a real attorney general, somebody who would act more like Elliott Richardson did during the watergate period. Instead, hes behaving more like the John Michelle feature. Meaning more than half of the population. May 31st he has to come in front of that. He wants to get drilled down with what in the world is going on with doj. Since 1870 the department of justice is an honorable institution and right now things are coming apart at the seems. Right now President Trump wants to get involved and demonize people that in any way, shape and form criticize people. We saw that with your important, wonderful that you had. 2016, we might have it in 2020. Hes gone through living hell. Turning trumps forces against him. The fact that andy mccabe had a life in democratic politics, god for bid, made trump hate him even more so. Its a troublesome scenario we have going on with him now. He is a folk here would he but theyre feeling hes the worst attorney general weve seen in our lifetime. The attorney general has asked the president , at least he said it publicly, not to tweet because its interfering with him doing his job. John, trump tweeted today that he has the legal right to intervene in criminal cases. What about the separation of powers in this country . Well, the department of justice is a part of the executive branch. Bill barr does have an exaggerated thought of the separation of power. There was for years after watergate because nixon reached into his own department and tried to fix the case against his aides, his chief of staff, top domestic advisor against my testimony, he brought the head of the Criminal Division into the oval office and sat there and talked with them day after day after day instead what i was telling the prosecutors to the people who were targets. So i gladly share that. No president or white house, accept this to the attorney general or depth of the attorney general. It was never in the substance of cases. That norm is gone. I could talk about this all evening. We are out of time. It is a fascinating conversation. We will continue here on cnn. More, thank you thank you, don. 2020 democrats wrapping up their campaigns. Who has the most to gain . Most to lose . Next. 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Amazon prime video so when you say words like, show me best of prime video into this, youll see awesome stuff like this. Discover prime originals like, the Emmy Award Winning the marvelous mrs. Maisel, tom clancys jack ryan, and the man in the high castle. All in the same place as your live tv. Its all included with your amazon prime membership. Thats how xfinity makes tv. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Im feeing good right now and now to save the race. Nevada caucuses are just days away followed by the South Carolina primary and super tuesday. What we see over the next few weeks could tell us a lot about where this race is going. We have the executive producer of show times the circus. Happy valentines day. Happy valentines day to you. The nevada primary and then its South Carolina. The dynamic is still, still fluid now. Who has the most to lose . Clearly Elizabeth Warren does. And the Vice President. Theyve got to make a showing in one of the next two states and a significant one. The way this is playing out is that bernies got a hot hand. Hes in a good position to eke out the resources. Hes going the distance. Hes likely to have a good couple of nights. Hes in very good position in places like california. The Vice President has key o people here. Petes still got a hot hand as well. The question is who between those two is going to try and emerge in that lilg lane and the centrist lane and can they urge enough. Make call bloomberg has played his smart strategic plan. Yes. Its like your mother. Democrats were not bloomberg yes. Tell that story. People are going to be like, oh, i know, stop it, stop it, stop it. If youll remember, mark, im not sure, 2015, 2016 i said on the air many times, people would whisper to me about donald trump. In the elevator. I liked your interview with trump. I saw your town hall whatever you did with trump. I like him. They look around and say, i like him. Im hearing the same things about Michael Bloomberg and eighteen from people show you would think are not his con stit tau wednesday. Same thing, don. I suppose its an example of what money can do because im hearing from democrats who would normally not be bloomberg supporters. Lots of old democrats who have been out of work for years and suddenly theyre all unemployed. All theyre seeing and hearing is Michael Bloomberg. A lot of them had their hopes pinned on Vice President biden. Kind of like dating pete, they like dating amy but they like the guy that can take them to the prom in the best looking dress and flowers and thats mike bloomberg. Hes got the bucks. Pragmatic decision. Im not in love with the guy, but i think this becomes a thing about who can take on trump. Theyre looking at the resources he has. He has the money, he can go the distance and he can bring it. Also they had the twitter war back and forth. You usually would hear from democrats, oh, my gosh, you know, the president shouldnt be doing that. You know what theyre saying about that . Go, yeah, go, thats good. Right . Am i lying . Yeah, no, i think they like that hes punching back. Listen, he has a very, very sophisticated team, don. This is a guy in 18, hes got the best team that money can buy. Theyve been thinking about this for a long time. Hes finally running for president. My cohost in North Carolina is very every stop. Its amazing food. Theyre doing it right. Just like building a chute and have it looked pretty good. Im concerned about the ballots . Only one of each. Listen, its still really early. He justice has it. Something is happening here. Lets talk about Bernie Sanders campaigning in North Carolina today. I want you to watch this. Weigh won the popular vote in iowa. We won the New Hampshire primary. And im getting the very strong feeling that were going to win here in North Carolina. I think all of you know were getting the establishment just a little bit nervous. They look around and say, oh, my god, people are beginning to stand up and fight for justice. Well, the establishment is getting nervous. That is a good thing. He says the establishment is getting nervous. He said that a couple of times. Should they be . That sounds really familiar, don. Who said that in very 2016. Very antitrump. Very much like his supporters. He could very easily be donald trump. There you go. Maybe not easily but he could beat donald trump. What you got this week for us on the circus . Weve got an amazing New Hampshire insights. We start off with the james coore develop but we end up with guy cecil whos running the american priorities pack. Last week and everybody panicking. We come around to the end of the week with this guy cecil whos a longtime democratic operative. While everybody on the democratic side is panicking, guy cecil says, we have a lot of money and we know how to win this. Show times the circus this week sunday night. Always an update. Andrew yajs wife said she was suction ully assaulted. Nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. Nyquil severe. The nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. Why buy scented oil plugins that dont last as long . Switch to air wick for fragrance that lasts up to 60 days. Thats 20 longer than other brands. So your home smells true to nature for longer. Switch to air wick. Are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results . Try crest 3d whitestrips. Its enamelsafe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100 noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. Try crest 3d whitestrips. More than 35 new accusers have come forward since evelyn yang, the wife of a president ial candidate andrew yang, said in a cnn exclusive interview that she was assaulted by her obgyn. That brings the total to 70 people who said they were sexually assaulted. He got a sweetheart deal. Now the District Attorney is forced to file more charges. He could be the most sexually prolific predator in new york city. Hes retired. He raped, molested all of these women and nothings been done. And that makes me furious. How can that be . Amelia heckman, the latest to come forward, said she trusted him, believed he was doing her a favor, squeezing him to be his last patient in 2012. She was told to undress. While naked on an exam table he assaulted her. The exam went from a rubber glove examination to a tongue and beard and i recoiled, tensed up. He abruptly got up and i put my clothes on really fast because i didnt know we were the last ones in the office and i didnt know if he was going to rape me. You didnt know if the attack was over . Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, i didnt. I ran out. You never saw him again . Never saw him again. Heckman was a young model at the time. She said she didnt tell anyone about the assault worried no one would believe her. Years later she learned there were many others. In 2012 new york police first arrested him for allegedly licking another patients vagina but prosecutors didnt file charges. Thats when he allegedly assaulted at least two more women including evelyn yang, wife of former president ial candidate andrew yang. What happened to me should have never happened. He was arrested in his office and he was let back to work. Two years later haddon was arrested again, this time indicted on nine counts involving six of his patients. Even though the office of manhattan District Attorney cyrus vance knew of 19 victims, they cut a deal. He pleaded guilty to two charges, gave up his license, no prison time, no probation, not Even Community service. Its like getting slapped in the face and punched in the gut. The das office is meant to protect us and there was no justice here. Since evelyn came forward with her story, she came forward and said they were assaulted. They want the das office to reopen the case. I want the District Attorney to revisit some of these cases. I want to be included. I wasnt included before. Reporter heckman and yang along with dozens of other women are suing columbia university. Theyre saying they did nothing to stop this and in legal filings say its guilt. After evelyn yang came forward, her husband James Heckman encouraged her to go public. I think the more victims come out and show their face like, hey, im a real person, not just jane dough, you know, maybe theres Something Like that. Amelia heckman plans to present her case directly to the District Attorney. They have not spoken publicly about the haddon case. Hes refused our request for interviews. In the statement the d. A. Did tell us while we stand by the disposition of this difficult case, we regret that this resolution has caused survivors pain. The alleged survivors of dr. Robert madden, say thats just not good enough. Don . Well be right back. Lets get down to business. The business of atlanta on monday. Cincinnati on tuesday. Philly on wednesday. And thursday back to cincinnati. Modernized comfort inns and suites have been refreshed because when your business keeps going, our business is you. Get the lowest price guaranteed on all Choice Hotels when you book direct at choicehotels. Com. Colon Cancer Screening for people 45 plus at average risk. Some things are harder than you thought. And others are easier. Like screening for colon cancer with me, cologuard. Im noninvasive and you use me at home. Im also effective. I find 92 of colon cancers using dna in your stool. So why wait . Cologuard is not for those at high risk for colon cancer. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your Healthcare Provider if cologuard is right for you. Most insured patients pay 0. Theres news tonight on prince harry and Meghan Markles stepping back. T the cnn initial series the winds sores inside the Royal Dynasty takes you behind the palace walls for an in depth look at the royal famous family. We are looking at history. 20 Million People watched this ceremony. I know that im in love with this girl and i hope that shes in love with me. The public totally in love with this ideal couple and yet the public cant see everything. Edward leaves and he throws the monarchy into chaos. Throughout much of dianas marriage to charles there was a third figure hovering around. She called herself the queen of hearts which really stuck a knife in queen. This was a woman of color who married into the royal family. In two years of the marriage she wants out. There is this terrible balance that they want to strike between being extraordinary and being ordinary. She knows all about the royals more than anybody i know. Thats victoria arbiter. Thank you so much. The british monarchy is viewed as an ancient tradition. The house of windsor, the current royal family has had to deal with scandal and change ever since its inception. Tell us about it. Reporter it has, don. Someone asked me earlier today, whats the biggest scandal Queen Elizabeth has had to deal with. When were looking to answer that question we go back right to 1936 in the abdication crisis. No one thought the queen would become the queen. They thought elizabeth would lead a nice, quiet life. Shes gone on to become the longest ruling monarch. Shes the oldest serving sovereign in the world. Shes had to contend with more abdication, the death of diana, now the departure of harry and meagan which is unprecedented in and of itself. What we see in the queen is a beacon of continuity. She just keeps on going. Shes got another challenge shes facing now. The latest one is prince harry and Meghan Markles decision to step back from their duties as senior members of the royal family. What impact will that have on the monarchy . Reporter long term, don, not a huge impact. Theres no question harry and megans very important. She was the first biracial member of the royal family and she opened up this anglo white family to a whole legion of people around the world who perhaps havent been very interested in the monarchy beforehand. The fact that theyve left will hit some communities very hard. Theres no question the queen will be disappointed. She adores prince harry. She was excited about the work they could do on behalf of the commonwealth. Thats ultimately safe. Prince william, Prince George stands to be the first king of the 22nd century. In that respect, the monarchy is safe. I thought about that as i was asking the question. Its not like harry was next in line f. It had been william it would have had a much bigger impact on the monarchy, correct . Yes, it certainly would. Because the queen is still going, were seeing her extended family do so much work. Its upwards of 20 people. When Prince Charles comes to the throne hes been very clear about slimming down the monarchy. William and kate are going to be the only working members of their generation. So we go from 20 down to 4. Thats going to be a huge workload for four people to try and carry out on their own. Its not like the interests across the pond on vacation. Why is that . Rulely, for a lot of americans it started lacking like diana. Intrigue, romance, love, death, tragedy. It really just covers all the boxes when were looking at the ultimate in drama and soap opera. Of course, this is very real people at the center of all of that, but i think for americans that dont have anything like a royal family, celebrity is a step down from that. I think people are just intrigued by it and you factor in the pomp and the pageantry, it starts to become a very compelling institution to follow not to mention theres 1,000 years worth of history wrapped up in there and were witnessing history in the making. And the crowns and the septors. Jewels. Jewels. Castles, appreciate you joining us. Thank you, don. The all new cnn series the winds sores, inside the Royal Dynasty on sunday. Thank you for watching, everyone. Our coverage continues. Introducing botanica. Unique home fragrances that finally capture the essence of natures beauty by using Natural Ingredients to craft scents that work in harmony. Warm vanilla and himalayan magnolia. French lavender and honey blossom. Tropical pineapple and tunisian rosemary. Creating a range of six exotic fragrance pairings that are responsibly sourced in a way that respects the planet. New botanica by air wick. Nature inspired. Planet conscious. Are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results . Try crest 3d whitestrips. Its enamelsafe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100 noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. Try crest 3d whitestrips. Amazon prime video so when you say words like, show me best of prime video into this, youll see awesome stuff like this. Discover prime originals like, the Emmy Award Winning the marvelous mrs. Maisel, tom clancys jack ryan, and the man in the high castle. All in the same place as your live tv. Its all included with your amazon prime membership. Thats how xfinity makes tv. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Im feeing good right now coming up here, the u. S. Attorney generals new actions that could help Donald Trumps friends and allies. Evacuation. The coronavirus outbreak has put hundreds in quarantine on a cruise ship, but they could soon be heading home. Well tell you about that deal and a deal with the taliban, the u. S. Says that it has reached an agreement to reduce violence in afghanistan. Welcome to our viewers he here in the United States and all around the world coming to you live from atlanta, im natalie allen. Newsroom starts