The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s deputy director, whom US President Donald Trump accused of political bias, has resigned.
Andrew McCabe was forced to step down ahead of his official retirement date in March, reports CBS News.
His exit from the top law enforcement agency comes a week after a report that Mr Trump wanted him out.
It was also reported last week that the president had asked Mr McCabe during an Oval Office meeting whom he voted for.
Mr McCabe briefly became acting FBI director last May after Mr Trump fired its previous chief, James Comey.
Mr Comey had been overseeing the bureau’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump eventually nominated Christopher Wray as the new FBI director, and he was confirmed by the Senate in August.
Mr Wray recently threatened to resign after being pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mr McCabe, Washington DC news outlet Axios reported last week.
Mr McCabe, who was already expected to step down in early 2018 upon becoming eligible for his pension, is now on leave ahead of his official retirement date, CBS News reports.
The Republican president has previously criticised Mr McCabe because his wife, Dr Jill McCabe, ran as a Democrat for a Senate seat in Virginia.
Her campaign received $675,000 in donations from the Virginia Democratic Party and a political funding committee aligned with Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump’s 2016 election rival.
Mr Trump has railed against Mr McCabe and his wife on Twitter, calling the FBI chief a “Comey friend”.
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?
Last July he tweeted: “Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!”
The Washington Post reported last week that Mr McCabe was disturbed by a question he was asked by the president during a get-to-know-you Oval Office meeting.
Mr Trump had reportedly asked Mr McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 US presidential election, according to current and former officials in the report.
Mr McCabe said he told the president that he did not vote.
The president has questioned how Mr McCabe could have led the FBI investigation into Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server when his wife received donations from “Clinton Puppets”.
Meanwhile, Republican-led congressional committees have launched inquiries into whether the FBI botched its Clinton investigation and showed favouritism towards her.
Democrats have said those investigations are attempts to distract from US Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News
Andrew McCabe had become a lightning rod for Republican criticism of the FBI’s handling of the investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. Now he’s heading for – or, perhaps, being pushed toward – the exits a bit earlier than he planned.
Donald Trump had already been explicit in his criticism of the bureau’s second-in-command during the tumultuous 2016 presidential election season. In a late December tweet, the president essentially counted the days until Mr McCabe’s planned springtime retirement.
FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly threatened to resign rather than sack his deputy director. Something changed.
Perhaps the political pressure from Republicans became too much. Or maybe, as Democrats have warned, this is the beginning of a political-tinged purge of the nation’s top law-enforcement agency.
If there’s something more concerning about Mr McCabe’s tenure, beyond a Democratic-affiliated wife or his name surfacing in text messages in 2016 between two FBI employees who had been critical of Mr Trump, it’s only a matter of time before it comes to light.
What’s clear at this point, however, is that the Russian investigation is increasingly becoming mired in partisan trench warfare – and it could directly affect how Robert Mueller’s special investigation proceeds.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Be the first to comment