Deputy FBI director McCabe, a target of Trump's criticism, is stepping down immediately
Andrew McCabe/Wikimedia Commons.
Updated: Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, a target of repeated criticism by President Donald Trump, is stepping down from his post immediately.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told FBI employees in a message that McCabe would take an immediate leave and would retire on March 18, report the Associated Press and the New York Times.
McCabe reportedly told friends he felt pressure to leave from Wray, according to the New York Times. Wray had reportedly raised concerns about an upcoming inspector general’s report that looked at the role of McCabe and other FBI officials in the Russia and Hillary Clinton investigations.
Wray told FBI employees that McCabe’s move did not stem from political pressure. “I will not be swayed by political or other pressure in my decision-making,” Wray said in a message to FBI employees. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said President Donald Trump had nothing to do with McCabe stepping down.
Several publications had initial reports on McCabe’s abrupt move on Monday that were based on anonymous sources. They included Washington Post, the Associated Press, USA Today and Politico.
A report last week said Trump had asked McCabe how he voted in the 2016 election in a conversation held soon after the May firing of James Comey. McCabe became acting FBI director after Comey’s firing.
During the same conversation, Trump reportedly expressed anger about hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations received by McCabe’s wife from a political action committee linked to an ally of Hillary Clinton. McCabe’s wife, a Democrat, received the money in an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
When he was deputy director, following his wife’s election loss, McCabe had worked on investigations into Clinton’s use of a private email server and into donations made to the Clinton Foundation.
Trump tweeted about McCabe’s work in December. “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?” he wrote.
Updated at 5:50 to include new information from the New York Times and the Associated Press.
