McCabe canned at FBI on eve of retirement
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he has fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Trump’s anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date.
The move, which had been expected and was announced last night, was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials. It comes ahead of an inspector general report expected to conclude that McCabe was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it reviewed the bureau’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
In a prepared statement, Sessions wrote: “After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe.”
The statement continued, “Both the OIG And FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
Though McCabe had spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official, Trump repeatedly condemned him over the last year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.
McCabe responded to the announcement by saying his firing is part of the Trump administration’s “ongoing war on the FBI” and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.