Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe outlined on Sunday the reasons top officials decided to open a counterintelligence probe and obstruction of justice investigation into President Donald Trump.

In an interview with CBS' Scott Pelley on "60 Minutes," McCabe said Trump had been speaking in a "derogatory way" about the Russia investigation for weeks, which they viewed as an attempt to "publicly undermine the investigation." He said officials were concerned by the President's "own words."

McCabe said officials looked at the following events:

  • Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

  • Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "include Russia" in a memo the President requested outlining reasons to fire Comey (which Rosenstein did not do).
  • Trump fired Comey.

  • Trump made public comments linking his firing of Comey to the Russia investigation on NBC.
  • Trump met in the Oval Office with Russian officials where Trump reportedly said that firing Comey relieved "great pressure"

When asked if Rosenstein was on aboard with opening the investigations into Trump, McCabe told Pelley, "absolutely."