FBI’s McCabe, a frequent Trump target, resigns
Deputy director took fire over Clinton email case
WASHINGTON – FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been a target of criticism from President Trump and some Republican lawmakers, announced his resignation Monday, according to two government officials who were not authorized to comment publicly on personnel matters.
McCabe was expected to resign in March when he was eligible for retirement, but the bureau’s second-in-command submitted his resignation more than a month early, one official said.
His accumulated leave time would allow him to qualify for full retirement benefits.
Before McCabe’s announcement, the official said, FBI Director Christopher Wray raised the prospect of moving McCabe to another post within the bureau, but the deputy director decided to leave.
McCabe was the agency’s acting director after Trump fired James Comey in May.
Trump blamed McCabe for influencing the bureau’s decision not to criminally charge Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server when she was secretary of State. In response to accusations that McCabe exerted partisan influence over the investigation, the FBI maintained McCabe had no personal conflicts because he did not oversee that inquiry while his wife, Jill, was running for state office in Virginia as a Democrat.
Soon after he was named acting FBI director, Trump asked McCabe whom he voted for in the 2016 election. McCabe, according to an official who was not authorized to comment publicly, told Trump that he did not vote.
Trump’s references to McCabe, in tweets and public statements, fed suspicion among conservative Republicans that the FBI was biased against the Trump administration.
Tensions between Republicans and law enforcement have escalated as the president’s team negotiates terms for his possible testimony in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the presidential election and possible collusion with Trump associates.
Trump had said McCabe was “racing the clock to retire with full benefits,” though White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the president was not involved in McCabe’s departure.
“The only thing the president has been applying pressure to was to make sure we get this (Russia investigation) resolved so that you guys and everyone else can focus on the things that Americans actually care about,” Sanders said. “And that is making sure everybody gets the Russia fever out of their system once and for all.”
Last month, Trump seized on McCabe’s role in the Clinton inquiry and his wife’s political bid, noting that Jill McCabe received nearly $470,000 from a political action committee associated with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally.
“How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” Trump tweeted in December.
The FBI released documents showing McCabe’s role in the Clinton investigation began in February 2016, three months after his wife lost her bid for a state Senate seat.
McCabe has been supported by the bureau’s leadership, including Wray, the new FBI director, who succeeded Comey. Since joining the bureau in 1996, McCabe has served Republican and Democratic administrations at the bureau’s highest levels.
Associate Deputy Director David Bowdich, the former FBI chief in Los Angeles who oversaw the investigation into the mass shooting in 2015 that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, Calif., was named deputy director.
“The only thing the president has been applying pressure to was to make sure we get this (Russia investigation) resolved.”
Sarah Sanders White House spokeswoman