FBI former deputy director Andrew McCabe sacked before retirement

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s former No. 2 official who was deeply involved in the agency’s investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia’s role in the 2016 US election and was repeatedly criticized by President Donald Trump.

McCabe said in a lengthy statement that he believes he is being politically targeted because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comey’s claims that Trump tried to pressure him into killing the Russia probe. Trump ousted Comey last year and later acknowledged in a televised interview that he fired Comey over “this Russia thing.”

“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,” Sessions said in a statement on Friday.

McCabe’s dismissal came two days before his 50th birthday, when he would have been eligible to retire from the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his full pension. The firing - which comes nine months after Trump fired Comey - puts McCabe’s pension in jeopardy.

It also is likely to raise questions about whether McCabe received an overly harsh punishment due to political pressure by the Republican president, who has blasted McCabe on Twitter and called for his ouster.

WASHINGTON: