Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director, steps down amid Trump and Republican criticism. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been a target of unrelenting criticism from President Trump, abruptly announced his resignation Monday, according to a senior government official who was not authorized to comment publicly on personnel matters. McCabe was expected to resign in March when he was eligible for retirement and full benefits. But the bureau second-in-command submitted his resignation more than a month early, the official said. Trump has blamed McCabe for influencing the decision not to criminally charge his former election opponent Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server. Yet the FBI has said McCabe had no conflicts in the probe, as he did not oversee that inquiry while his wife Jill McCabe was running for state office in Virginia as a Democrat. Ref. USAToday.
Image from Wikimedia public domain.
Andrew McCabe (Hover)
Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fired
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday, less than two days shy of McCabe's retirement, ending the career of an official who had risen to serve as second-in-command at the bureau.
McCabe had more recently been regularly taunted by President Donald Trump and besieged by accusations that he had misled internal investigators at the Justice Department.
McCabe had been expected to retire this Sunday, on his 50th birthday, when he would have become eligible to receive early retirement benefits.
But Friday's termination could place a portion of his anticipated pension, earned after more than two decades of service, in significant jeopardy.
A representative for McCabe said he learned from a press release that he had been fired by Sessions. A Justice Department spokesperson pushed back, saying, "Mr. McCabe and his attorney were informed in advance of any news media."
After more than a year of investigations, accusations and taunting tweets from Trump, McCabe broke his silence. Ref. CNN.
McCabe has memos documenting his conversations with Trump
Much like fired FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote memos documenting his conversations with President Donald Trump before he was fired Friday, a source told CNN.
Following his firing, McCabe told CNN that he spoke to the President several times while he was acting FBI director in May after Comey's dismissal, and Trump berated him about his wife's failed state Senate campaign.
It is unclear what is in McCabe's memos and what span of time they cover. Ref. CNN.
Andrew McCabe suing Justice Department, FBI over firing. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is suing the Justice Department and FBI over his firing last spring.
McCabe is asking a federal court in Washington to reinstate him as deputy director of the FBI so he can earn a full pension, which he was deprived of by being fired.
He was dismissed less than two days before his retirement date after being investigated by the Justice Department's inspector general for improper disclosure of information to the media and lack of candor to federal investigators. McCabe, who worked for the FBI for two decades and was a senior leader in 2016 through 2018, had become a target of President Donald Trump's heckling on Twitter and he accused the FBI of bowing to political pressure in his March 2018 firing. Ref. CNN.
They could have at least waited until he retired rather than 2 days before it. Usually retirement has send off parties and well wishes so that was pretty much cancelled with these turns of events.
International Level: New Activist / Political Participation: 19 1.9%
Federal prosecutors recommend that Andrew McCabe be indicted. The former FBI second-in-command is a frequent Trump target. McCabe, the former second-in-command of the FBI and a target of frequent criticism by President Donald Trump, has faced scrutiny his role in a leak about an investigation of the Clinton Foundation shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors in Washington recommended that he be indicted, and a top Justice Department official told his lawyers Thursday that the case could proceed, a person familiar with the matter said. Ref. USAToday.