Ex-FBI No. 2 official faces prospect of criminal charges

WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, faces the prospect of criminal charges after his lawyers failed to persuade senior Justice Department officials that he didn’t intentionally lie to internal investigators.

Two people familiar with the matter said Thursday that Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen declined an appeal from McCabe’s lawyers aimed at preventing a prosecution.

Still, it wasn’t immediately clear when or even whether the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington might announce charges.

Any indictment would put the spotlight not only on McCabe’s actions, but also those of the Justice Department. McCabe’s attorneys are likely to argue that the prosecution of McCabe would be politically motivated, with the Justice Department carrying out a vendetta against a Trump adversary.

They are likely to highlight the personal enmity between the two men, with Trump criticizing McCabe even before he took office and McCabe describing the president as a “deliberate liar.”

McCabe’s attorneys have argued that he should not face charges on accusations that he lied to internal investigators about whether he had authorized a news media leak related to an investigation of the Clinton Foundation in the fall of 2016. McCabe has denied intentionally misleading anyone.

He and his lawyers have said that any false statements made to investigators were the result of a faulty memory rather than an attempt to deceive.