Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has been fired, effective immediately the Department of Justice said late Friday night. The decision comes as FBI officials recommended his firing, as they wait for a Department of Justice Inspector General report critical of him to be released.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said “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.”
The decision, not unexpected, came two days before McCabe was set to retire Sunday. The 49-year-old is likely to keep at least some of his pension.
McCabe said in a phone interview with CBS News said he “rejects the findings in the [Inspector General] report,” calling it “misleading and unfair.”
“I strongly believe this is the latest chapter in a year long attack on my credibility and service to the country,” McCabe said.
In a statement, McCabe said “to have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.”
The report by the Department of Justice Inspector General found evidence that McCabe had questionable contact with a reporter and was not fully forthcoming when asked about it about an investigation concerning the Clinton Foundation. Those familiar with McCabe’s side of the story say he was authorized to talk to reporters.
The decision came after Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools met with McCabe Thursday, a part of an effort to shift the McCabe decision to “career officials” within the DOJ, according to a source familiar with the process. The optics, the source says, are not good for Attorney General Sessions to fire a career civil servant who is frequently criticized by the president. Schools is among the top career officials at the DOJ currently, and the department wanted to pin the outcome of the situation on long-established institutional norms, not politics.
President Trump has blasted McCabe in the past, particularly over his wife’s acceptance of campaign cash from an ally of Hillary Clinton’s, before McCabe began FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s email server. He also said McCabe was “racing the clock to retire with full benefits.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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