With donations from more than 11,000 people, the fund blew past its goal of $250,000 Friday after contributions totaled $475,406. The GoFundMe page previously had a goal of $150,000 before organizers decided to raise the bar. It's unclear if it will be increased once again.
"Andrew McCabe's FBI career was long, distinguished and unblemished. He embraced the most daunting, difficult and important challenges that the FBI and the country could assign to him over the past 21 years," the fund's biography of McCabe reads. "His reward for that has been a termination that was completely unjustified, amidst repeated ad hominem attacks by the President of the United States."
"Unfortunately, the need for a legal defense fund is a growing reality. Media reports indicate that at a minimum, there are a number of congressional inquiries that he will be required to respond to, as well as the broader Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation that is ongoing, and any potential lawsuits he might consider," it continued.
"Mr. McCabe and his team are working to gain clarity around the lasting impact his firing — 26 hours before his planned retirement — will have on the pension and healthcare benefits he earned over his two decades of service to the FBI."
Campaign organizers later noted that funds would only be used to cover McCabe's legal costs and that any remaining amount would be donated to a charity of the family's choice.
Speaking to the New York Daily News, a spokesperson for McCabe confirmed to the publication that the page was authentic. The representative, however, refused to offer a comment on whether McCabe would be filing any lawsuit regarding his dismissal, which happened two days before he was set to retire.
McCabe was fired March 16 by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the recommendation of the FBI after it was revealed that he'd lied about allowing top officials to share sensitive information with reporters.
"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and accountability. As the OPR [Office of Professional Responsibility] proposal stated, ‘all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand,'" Sessions said in a statement provided by the US Justice Department. "Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately."
Following his involuntary departure from the department, the 50-year-old wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he'd only learned about his termination after a friend told him it was all over the news.
