WASHINGTON -- Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says the Justice Department's decision to fire him just two days before his retirement is part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI." McCabe, who briefly led the agency after Director James Comey was fired, said his dismissal by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday night was the latest attack on his credibility.

He has claimed he's being singled out because of what he witnessed in the aftermath of Comey's ouster.

McCabe was fired a day after FBI ethics officials recommended his dismissal, reports CBS News justice correspondent Paula Reid, and just before the expected release of an Inspector General's report which is expected to show that he shared information with the media about the agency's investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fires former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe

In a statement, Sessions said McCabe, "lacked candor -- including under oath -- on multiple occasions… all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal."

But McCabe pushed back hard, saying his firing is yet another attempt by the administration to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election process, and allegations that Mr. Trump's campaign colluded with those efforts.

In a statement, McCabe wrote that he was, "being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."

Part of Mueller's probe is looking into whether President Trump was trying to obstruct justice by firing Comey.

Special counsel Robert Mueller sends subpoena to Trump Organization

McCabe said in his statement that the inspector general's report was fast-tracked after he told the House Intelligence Committee he would corroborate Comey's accounts of conversations he had with the president. Comey has testified that Mr. Trump asked if he would end an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

McCabe spoke directly about the ongoing Russia investigation in his statement.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he said. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

President Trump tweeted shortly after midnight that it was a "great day" for the FBI and "Democracy," and he accused "sanctimonious" Comey of making McCabe, "seem like a choir boy."

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

In a phone interview with CBS News' senior investigator producer Pat Milton, McCabe said he rejected the findings in the (Inspector General's) report, calling it "misleading and unfair."

"I strongly believe this is the latest chapter in a yearlong attack on my credibility and service to the country," McCabe said.

In his 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."

McCabe said he was notified of his firing by a press release. The 49-year-old is likely to keep at least some of his pension.

Read McCabe's full statement or read the text below:

Before and after former FBI director James Comey met with President Trump in Feb. 2017, Comey and top FBI officials, including McCabe, were troubled by Mr. Trump's repeated attempts to meet alone with Comey, CBS News' justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.

Most of the top FBI officials in on the discussions with Comey after his meetings with Mr. Trump have left the bureau in the past year, one way or another, Pegues reports. Comey and McCabe were fired.

The report by the Department of Justice Inspector General found evidence that McCabe had questionable contacts 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."</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Friday, just two days before his scheduled retirement date.

 

 FBI disciplinary officials recommended the termination after the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe in Hillary Clinton's email investigation to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

"Both 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," DOJ spokesperson Sarah Flores told CBN News in a statement.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, 'all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand,'" Flores continued

McCabe disputed the findings in his own statement, saying the firing was part of a Trump administration "war" on the FBI.

 

 "I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," McCabe said, referring to the former FBI director who was fired last May.

McCabe came under fire from the DOJ inspector general's office after an October 2016 news report revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office concluded that McCabe had authorized FBI officials to speak to The Wall Street Journal for that story and that he had not been forthcoming with investigators about that.

 

 McCabe's firing marks the end of his more than 20 year career in the FBI.</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday night that he was firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date.The move, which had been expected, was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials and comes ahead of an inspector general report expected to conclude that McCabe was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it reviewed the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.Sessions said in a statement that investigators "concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor - including under oath - on multiple occasions."McCabe immediately disputed the findings in his own statement, saying the firing was part of a Trump administration "war" on the FBI."I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," McCabe said, referring to the former FBI director who was fired by Trump last May.Though McCabe had spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official, and had played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations, Trump repeatedly condemned him over the last year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.The White House had said the firing decision was up to the Justice Department but seemed to signal this week that it would welcome the move.The termination is symbolic to an extent since McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since last January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. But it comes just ahead of his planned retirement, on Sunday, and puts his ability to receive pension benefits into jeopardy."After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).The FBI's OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both 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 FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, "all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand."Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately."McCabe came under scrutiny from the Justice Department's inspector general's office over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office had concluded that McCabe had authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that he had not been forthcoming with investigators about that - something McCabe denies, according to one person familiar with the matter.Officials at the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility had recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if McCabe were to not be fired. But a decision to dismiss McCabe two days before his firing carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.McCabe, a lawyer by training, enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. He was the FBI's top counterterrorism official during the Boston Marathon bombing and later the FBI's national security branch and its Washington field office, one of the bureau's largest, before being named to the deputy director position.But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife during an unsuccessful bid for the Virginia state Senate had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time the contributions were made.He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. As a congressional hearing two days after Comey's dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the "smallest things" on the FBI's plate and also strongly disputed the administration's suggestion that Comey had lost the respect of the bureau's workforce."I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey," McCabe said.McCabe was among the officials interviewed to replace Comey as director. That position ultimately went to Christopher Wray.On Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the decision was up to the Justice Department but said "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."</s>Interestingly Reuters is continuing the McCabe narrative with an article quoting an unnamed FBI official who urges Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to fire Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Given the rather expansive wealth of McCabe the angle of preserving his pension seems more than a little odd.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who stepped down in January after criticism from President Donald Trump, met on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department official in an effort to preserve his pension, according to a source familiar with the matter. McCabe planned to retire on Sunday with full benefits, but some or all of his pension could be at risk after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended firing him for misleading Justice Department investigators about his supervision of probes into Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presidential opponent, said the source, who requested anonymity.

The person spoke anonymously because no decisions have been made, and the matter is still not public. McCabe did not return a call seeking comment. Sunday is McCabe’s birthday, which triggers his eligibility for full pension benefits, the source said. […] On two occasions in 2016, McCabe authorized an FBI public affairs officer [Michael P. Kortan] to talk to a Wall Street Journal reporter [Devlin Barrett] who was writing about McCabe’s role in probes related to Clinton, the source said. (read more)

The ‘source’ for the Reuters article could likely be former FBI Director James Comey.

The recommendation to fire McCabe was based on a referral to the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) by the Justice Department’s inspector general Michael Horowitz. The IG felt McCabe misled OIG investigators about his communications with Devlin Barrett; a former Wall Street Journal reporter now working for the Washington Post.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the decision to fire FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will ultimately be left to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but said McCabe has had “some very troubling behavior” and is a “bad actor.” “We do think that it is well-documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts [is] a bad actor and should have some cause for concern,” Sanders told reporters during Thursday’s White House press briefing. Sanders said the Justice Department and Sessions would determine whether McCabe is terminated. (link)</s>WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday night accepted the recommendation that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who took the reins of the agency during the turbulent days after the abrupt firing of James Comey, be terminated — two days before he was to retire and become eligible for full pension benefits.

Though McCabe — who has been attacked by President Donald Trump — stepped down as deputy director in late January, he remained on the federal payroll, planning to retire on Sunday. The firing places his federal pension in jeopardy.

Unlike Trump’s removal of Comey last year, which produced widespread resentment inside the FBI, McCabe’s termination was recommended by the agency he served for 21 years.

Sunday is McCabe’s 50th birthday, which would have made him eligible for certain substantial retirement benefits.

The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility proposed the termination, based on the findings of the Justice Department’s inspector general. That office has been examining the bureau’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation.

“After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility,” Sessions said in a statement at about 10 p.m. ET Friday night. “The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both 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.”

In statement released after the firing was announced, McCabe said: “This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.”

As part of the inquiry, McCabe was questioned about conversations FBI officials had with a reporter in October 2016 regarding the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation. The inspector general’s report, which has not been made public, concluded that McCabe was not completely candid in answering questions about those conversations, according to officials familiar with the report.

The findings of the inspector general apparently played a role in McCabe’s decision to step down in late January from the deputy director post.

In a message to employees at the time, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific aspects of the IG’s review right now. But I can assure you that I remain staunchly committed to doing this job, in every respect, ‘by the book.’ I will not be swayed by political or other pressure in my decision making.”

After Comey was fired in May 2017, McCabe became the FBI’s acting director. Two days later, he was asked at a congressional hearing if the shake-up was affecting operations.

“Quite simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing, protecting the American people, and upholding the Constitution,” he replied, a comment that cheered the FBI’s rank and file.

But McCabe became a target of Republicans who questioned the FBI’s impartiality in how the Clinton investigation was conducted.

When McCabe’s wife, Jill, ran for the state Senate in Virginia in 2015, she accepted a donation from a political action committee controlled by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a friend and supporter of Hillary Clinton’s — and that became the basis for a series of Twitter attacks from Trump.

“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!” Trump wrote in July 2017, erroneously claiming that McCabe had a role in facilitating the contribution.

The next day, the president asked in a tweet, “Why didn’t [Attorney General] Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of the Clinton investigation?”

In response to criticism that McCabe should not have played a role in the Clinton investigation, the FBI said he consulted with internal ethics officials who concluded that because his wife’s campaign ended before the investigation began, there was no conflict.

The number-two official at the FBI is now Acting Deputy Director David Bowdich, who supervised the investigation of the deadly 2015 shooting at the San Bernardino, California, community center.</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday night that he was firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a longtime and frequent target of President Donald Trump's anger, just two days before his scheduled retirement date.

The move was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials and comes ahead of an inspector general report expected to conclude that McCabe had authorized the release of information to the news media and had not been forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said in a statement.

In an extraordinary rebuttal released immediately after Sessions' announcement, McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally."

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added, referring to Robert Mueller's ongoing probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

Though McCabe had spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official, and had played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations, Trump repeatedly condemned him over the last year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration. The White House had said the firing decision was up to the Justice Department but seemed to signal this week that it would welcome the move.

The termination is symbolic to an extent, since McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since last January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. But it comes just ahead of his planned retirement, on Sunday, and jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits upon his departure.

The firing arises from a wide-ranging inspector general review, initiated last year, into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That review focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership during the probe, but also on media leaks.

McCabe came under particular scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office had concluded that McCabe had authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that he had not been forthcoming with investigators about it, which McCabe strenuously denied.

In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through his public affairs office, a practice he said was common and done with the blessing of senior leadership. He said he had honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, contacted investigators again to correct them.

Even so, officials at the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility had recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if McCabe were to not be fired. But a decision to dismiss McCabe two days before his firing carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.

Though Sessions said McCabe had shown a lack of candor, the law enforcement official suggested a separate reason for his dismissal, saying, "I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."

He said the inspector general's investigation was accelerated after he told congressional investigators that he could corroborate the account of Comey, who was fired as FBI director last May.

McCabe, a lawyer by training, enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. He was the FBI's top counterterrorism official during the Boston Marathon bombing, and later led the FBI's national security branch and its Washington field office, one of the bureau's largest, before being named to the deputy director position.

But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during an unsuccessful bid for the Virginia state Senate, had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time the contributions were made.

He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. As a congressional hearing two days after Comey's dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the "smallest things" on the FBI's plate and strongly disputed the administration's suggestion that Comey had lost the respect of the bureau's workforce.

"I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey," McCabe said.

McCabe was among the officials interviewed to replace Comey as director. That position ultimately went to Christopher Wray.

On Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the decision was up to the Justice Department but said, "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."</s>US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday fired Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s former No. 2 official who was deeply involved in the agency’s investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia’s role in the 2016 US election and was repeatedly criticized by President Donald Trump.

McCabe said in a lengthy statement that he believes he is being politically targeted because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comey’s claims that Trump tried to pressure him into killing the Russia probe.

Trump ousted Comey last year and later acknowledged in a televised interview that he fired Comey over “this Russia thing.”

“Based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Sessions said in a statement.

McCabe’s dismissal came two days before his 50th birthday, when he would have been eligible to retire from the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his full pension. The firing – which comes nine months after Trump fired Comey – puts McCabe’s pension in jeopardy.

It also is likely to raise questions about whether McCabe received an overly harsh punishment due to political pressure by the Republican president, who has blasted McCabe on Twitter and called for his ouster.

Comey’s firing paved the way for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to tap Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Trump has denied there was any collusion.

“I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey,” McCabe said in his statement.

“This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort … to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally.”

McCabe had stepped down from his position as FBI deputy director in January but remained on leave pending retirement.

His departure was triggered by a critical report from the Justice Department’s inspector general that eventually led to a recommendation that he be fired.

The report said McCabe misled investigators about his communications with a former Wall Street Journal reporter who was writing about McCabe’s role in probes tied to Clinton, including an investigation of the Clinton family’s charitable foundation.

In his statement, McCabe denied ever misleading investigators.

He added that the release of the inspector general’s report was “accelerated” after he testified behind closed doors before the US House Intelligence Committee where he revealed he could back up Comey’s claims. Comey’s firing has become central to questions about whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the Russia investigation.

McCabe could potentially be a crucial witness in Mueller’s investigation.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that he had fired former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, a regular target of President Donald Trump's anger and criticism, just two days before his scheduled retirement date. McCabe immediately decried the move and suggested it was part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI."

The dismissal was made on the recommendation of FBI disciplinary officials and comes ahead of an inspector general report expected to conclude that McCabe had authorized the release of information to the news media and had not been forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said in a Friday night statement.

In an extraordinary rebuttal released immediately after the attorney general's announcement, McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.

"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added, referring to Robert Mueller's ongoing probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."

McCabe also asserted that he was being singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey." Mueller is investigating whether Trump's actions, including firing Comey as FBI director last May, constitute obstruction of justice, and McCabe, a close Comey confidant, could be an important witness. McCabe said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comey's accounts of his conversations with the president.

Though McCabe had spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official, and had played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations, Trump had repeatedly condemned him over the last year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration. He appeared to revel in the termination, tweeting early Saturday that it was a "great day for Democracy" and a "great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI."

The dismissal is symbolic to an extent since McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. But it comes just ahead of his planned retirement, on Sunday, and likely jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits upon his departure. It could also add to the tumult that has enveloped the law enforcement agency in the last year amid the firing of former director James Comey in May and an ongoing FBI probe of the Trump campaign that the White House has dismissed as a hoax.

The firing arises from a wide-ranging inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry view focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership during the probe, but also on news media leaks.

McCabe came under particular scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that he had not been forthcoming with investigators, which McCabe denies.

In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office, a practice he said was common and continued under current Director Christopher Wray. He said he had honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, contacted investigators to correct them.

The media outreach came at a time when McCabe said he was facing public accusations of partisanship and followed reports that his wife, during a run for state political office, had received campaign contributions from a close Clinton ally. McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to "set the record straight" about the FBI's independence against the background of those allegations.

Despite his defense, officials at the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility recommended the firing, leaving Justice Department leaders in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under his own blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if he decided against firing McCabe. But a decision to dismiss McCabe days before his retirement nonetheless carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.

McCabe enjoyed a rapid career ascent in the bureau after joining in 1996. Before being named FBI deputy director last year, he led the bureau's national security branch and also the Washington field office, one of the its largest.

But he became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during an unsuccessful bid for the Virginia state Senate, had received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close Clinton ally. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.

He became acting director following the firing last May of Comey, and immediately assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Trump administration.

As a congressional hearing days after Comey's dismissal, McCabe contradicted White House assertions that the Trump campaign investigation was one of the "smallest things" on the FBI's plate and strongly disputed the administration's suggestion that Comey had lost the support of the bureau's workforce.

"I can tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees, enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey," McCabe said.</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe two days before he was slated to retire — and become eligible for full pension benefits.

The Justice Department recommended his termination. In a statement, Sessions said reports from both the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that McCabe had made "an unauthorized disclosure to the news media" and "lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions."

McCabe, who had been the deputy director of the FBI, took over the agency on an interim basis after President Donald Trump fired James Comey last year, but stepped down in January.

McCabe told the New York Times, "The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong," and suggested that "this is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness."

McCabe is a potential witness in the FBI investigation into Trump's alleged ties to Russia, and could corroborate former FBI Director Comey's potential testimony. Although he had already announced his retirement, his firing places his federal pension at risk.

In December, Trump referenced that pension issue in a Twitter post, saying that McCabe was "racing the clock to retire with full benefits."

Trump and some Republicans in Congress have accused McCabe of political bias, citing his role at the FBI during investigations related to Hillary Clinton and Trump. They question his role in the Clinton email probe and the investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin.

The president had thrown jabs at McCabe in a manner unusual for a president and a top FBI official. Trump repeatedly accused McCabe of improper ties to Clinton because former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe — a Clinton ally — backed McCabe's wife's run for a state office in 2015. The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2016 that McAuliffe's political organization gave nearly $500,000 to Jill McCabe's campaign for state Senate.

The FBI had said McCabe followed the proper steps to avoid conflicts of interest. His wife's run for office also started months before he had any role in the Clinton probe.

McCabe released a statement on his firing. Here's what he wrote:

I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

 

 For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.

 

 No more.

 

 The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

 

 The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

 

 But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people.

 

 Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey's accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG's focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.

 

 This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work.

 

 I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. 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.

 

 I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.

For more details, see the NBC News report here.</s>WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, the FBI's former No. 2 official who was deeply involved in the agency's investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election and was repeatedly criticized by President Donald Trump, he said on Friday.

"Based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately," Sessions said.

McCabe's dismissal came two days before his 50th birthday, when he would have been eligible to retire from the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his full pension. The firing - which comes nine months after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey - puts McCabe's pension in jeopardy.

It also is likely to raise questions about whether McCabe received an overly harsh punishment due to political pressure by the Republican president, who has blasted McCabe on Twitter and called for his ouster.

"I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," McCabe said in a statement.

"This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort ... to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally." (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Will Dunham; Additional reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Bill Trott and Nick Macfie )
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fires former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe because of a report from the Office of Professional Responsibility accusing McCabe of making an unauthorized news media disclosure and lacking candor on multiple occasions.