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. 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. 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. "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. "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. "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. 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." 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.
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.