McCabe makes case against possible firing
WASHINGTON — With his retirement slated for Sunday, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe pleaded for his job at the Justice Department on Thursday, hoping to forestall his firing.
Disciplinary officials at the FBI have recommended that Justice Department bosses fire McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s criticism, ahead of his scheduled retirement. The termination, after more than 20 years on the job, could jeopardize his pension benefits.
McCabe was inside the Justice Department building with his lawyer to plead against the termination, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
An inspector general report that has not yet been released is expected to conclude that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak with a Wall Street Journal reporter for an October 2016 story about differing views within the FBI and Justice Department on how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The report is also expected to allege that McCabe was not forthcoming with investigators with the inspector general’s office about that media leak, something McCabe denies.
McCabe, who joined the FBI in 1996, abruptly went on leave from his deputy director’s job in January. He served for several months as the bureau’s acting director following the firing last May of Director James Comey.
Trump has repeatedly singled out McCabe in arguing that FBI leadership is biased against him. He has pointed to campaign contributions that McCabe’s wife received during a failed run for the Virginia state Senate from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Hillary Clinton ally.
White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the decision on whether McCabe should be fired was up to the Justice Department.
“But we do think that it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor and should have some cause for concern,” she said. “But that would be a determination that DOJ would have to make.”
The inspector general’s office announced last year a wide-ranging investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe. McCabe also has been under fire on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have suggested that Justice Department and FBI officials conspired in favor of Clinton.
