Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe plans to retire from the bureau early next year, according to a new report.
McCabe is retiring amid heavy scrutiny from congressional Republicans over his roles in the Russia investigation and the Clinton email probe. Top Republican lawmakers like Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley have recently called for McCabe’s ouster.
According to The Washington Post, McCabe will leave his post in a few months, after he becomes eligible for full pension benefits.
McCabe, 49, met for hours earlier this week with members of three Congressional committees to discuss his work on the Trump and Clinton investigations.
He was interviewed on Tuesday by the House Intelligence Committee, which focused on his involvement in handling the infamous Trump dossier. Fox News reported that McCabe offered few details about the dossier or the Russia investigation, which was opened at the end of July 2016.
Fox News reported that McCabe was unable to say what parts of the salacious dossier have been verified by the FBI.
On Thursday, McCabe met jointly with members of the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees. The Russia investigation was off limits during that interview. Instead, McCabe was pressed on his role in the Clinton email investigation.
McCabe recused himself from that probe shortly before the presidential campaign after it was reported that his wife received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a staunch ally of the Clintons.
One Republican lawmaker who took part in Thursday’s interview told The Daily Caller that Republicans were dissatisfied with McCabe’s answers regarding the Clinton investigation. The lawmaker declined to offer details about what part of McCabe’s testimony was inadequate.
McCabe has faced the heaviest criticism of late over a text message sent last year by Peter Strzok, the former FBI counterintelligence officer who supervised the collusion investigation.
It was revealed earlier this month that Strzok sent a text message on Aug. 15, 2016 which referenced a meeting that was seemingly held in McCabe’s FBI office.
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” Strzok wrote to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who worked closely with McCabe. (RELATED: FBI Officials Discussed ‘Insurance Policy’ Against Trump Presidency)
“It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Republicans have expressed concern over what “insurance policy” FBI officials had in mind.
Strzok was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in July, when the text messages were discovered.
McCabe’s departure comes days after The Post reported that FBI general counsel Jim Baker will be reassigned.