After Comey's firing, acting FBI chief jokes Benghazi controversy was 'the good ol' days'

— -- In case there's any doubt that the FBI is going through a particularly rough time these days, the new acting head of the agency, Andrew McCabe, told current and past colleagues today: "I didn't think I would ever reach a point in my life where I'd look back on the Benghazi investigation as the good ol' days."

McCabe's comments prompted laughter in the audience of current and past Justice Department staffers, many of whom had firsthand experience with the controversy the FBI was dragged into after four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador, were killed in a 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Dozens gathered today to celebrate the long government career of Mary McCord, who’s leaving as acting head of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

But the most notable attendees were McCabe, Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein -- three top officials closely tied to yesterday’s firing of James Comey as FBI chief. Also there was one of the other top FBI officials interviewed only hours earlier by Sessions and Rosenstein, who are currently searching for an official "interim" FBI director to lead the agency until a more permanent nominee is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

McCabe, who became deputy director of the FBI early last year, was thrust into the agency’s top position only after Sessions and Rosenstein recommended to President Donald Trump that the White House remove Comey.

"Things have been a little busy," McCabe said today. But, he said, McCord’s farewell was "an event I would not have missed for the world."

Sessions made remarks, saying McCord "represents the highest ideals that we all try to achieve every day in this work."

"She loves this department. She wants to do the right thing every day," he said, later joking that she taught him "so many of the complexities of national security ... [that] I guess I should have long since known."

McCord joined the National Security Division in 2014 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she served for nearly 20 years, according to the Justice Department.