Rep. Charlie Dent said Saturday that Andrew McCabe's firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday "looks like retribution and a bit vindictive" — warning that the upheaval engulfing the Trump White House will create a "five-alarm fire" for Republicans "down ballot" this November.
"This firing looks a bit forced, a bit rushed," Dent, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the House Ethics Committee, told Victor Blackwell on CNN. "Candidly, it looks like retribution and a bit vindictive.
"I think it's unfortunate.
"The man said he was resigning, and on a Friday night, before his 50th birthday, he's fired to take away his pension," he said. "I don't like the optics of this."
He added that Sessions — who, along with McCabe, has faced scorn from President Donald Trump — "may have been browbeaten into this.
"He's been publicly humiliated and shamed by the president on multiple occasions.
"I just don't think this bodes well."
Dent, who retiring at the end of the year after first being elected in 2004, noted last Tuesday's special House election in his state.
Democrat Conor Lamb has claimed victory over Republican state House Rep. Rick Saccone, though some absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted.
"All this continuing chaos and drama that we're seeing … is having an impact on Republicans down ballot," Dent said.
"If people didn't get the message on Tuesday, I hope they get it now."
Otherwise, he warned, Republicans will be facing "a big-time hurricane-force wind" in November.
"We're going to be defined by all of these issues swirling around us unless we're able to identify our own brand and our own identity and our own districts," Dent told Blackwell.
"This is a five-alarm fire."
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