Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has been a public and private target of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his role in both the investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as his status as a witness in a potential case of obstruction against the president. Previously, Trump reportedly asked McCabe to ask his wife how it felt to be a loser after learning McCabe’s wife had run for office at the state level in Virginia, so it wasn’t very surprising when McCabe went on leave in order to run out the clock before he could retire.
Before he can join the list of people to leave the Trump administration however, McCabe might join his former boss James Comey, federal prosecutor Preet Bhahara, and the Justice Department’s Sally Yates as a notable person to get fired by the administration under peculiar circumstances.
According to the New York Times, Sessions is reviewing a recommendation that calls for McCabe to be fired before he can retire with his full pension on Sunday.
Mr. McCabe is ensnared in an internal review that includes an examination of his decision in 2016 to allow F.B.I. officials to speak with reporters about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded that Mr. McCabe was not forthcoming during the review, according to the people briefed on the matter. That yet-to-be-released report triggered an F.B.I. disciplinary process that recommended his termination — leaving Mr. Sessions to either accept or reverse that decision.
If McCabe is fired for a disciplinary reason, his full pension could be affected, or even forfeited entirely. Lack of candor, especially while under oath is a fireable offense at the Bureau, but in FBI’s history, no deputy director has ever been fired.
(Via New York Times)