FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has “stepped down effective today,” reported NBC News reported earlier today.
Fox News contributor Sara Carter reports FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reacted furiously after colleagues demanded that he resign. For those who think FBI Director Christopher Wray is finished cleaning house — guess again. According to Carter, FBI sources within the bureau say “whistleblowers feel confident more resignations” are coming.
McCabe’s announcement comes one day after his boss read the FISA abuse memo. While experts believe McCabe being implicated in the four-page document led to his departure, the New York Times says it was another report that caught Wray’s attention.
The New York Times reports:
In a recent conversation, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, raised concerns about a forthcoming inspector general report examining the actions of Mr. McCabe and other senior F.B.I. officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, when the bureau was investigating both Hillary Clinton’s email use and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. In that discussion, according to one former law enforcement official close to Mr. McCabe, Mr. Wray suggested moving Mr. McCabe into another job, which would have been a demotion. Instead, the former official said, Mr. McCabe chose to leave. His departure was not announced at the bureau, leaving agents to learn of it from news reports. Mr. Wray, who was sworn in as director in August, named the bureau’s No. 3 official, David L. Bowdich, as his acting deputy.
Wray’s panic over a report that has yet to be released yet is noteworthy, and while the New York Times‘ doesn’t infer it, it was to be expected McCabe would likely quit instead of being demoted. In other words, the demotion was the firing, except it was McCabe’s decision to fall on his own sword. Such is a common courtesy extended to anyone who has served in an organization for a long time.
It’s currently unknown when the Inspector General’s report will be released.
Last week, the Daily Beast reported former FBI Director James Comey, bureau Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are officially named in the “shocking” FISA abuse memo.
McCabe, who served a brief stint as acting director of the bureau, was already expected to leave. He will stay on “terminal leave” until he is eligible to retire with benefits in March,” reports CNBC.