The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s deputy director Andrew McCabe,
who was repeatedly accused of political bias by President Donald Trump,
stepped down from his position on Monday, ahead of his planned
retirement in March.
According to CBS News, the 49-year-old was pressured to quit by FBI
Director Christopher Wray in advance of an inspector general report
examining the agency.
An internal communication authored by Mr. Wray shows Mr. McCabe’s
early departure was the result of a forthcoming FBI inspector general
report that concluded the agency must perform at the highest standards.
His exit from the top law enforcement agency comes a week after it
had been widely speculated that Mr. Trump wanted him out of the
position, because of the bureau’s lack of impartiality, particularly
with regards towards him.
It was claimed by Times that Mr. McCabe repeated criticism was also
due to the political ambitions of his wife, a Democrat who had received
the financial backing of a close Clinton ally during her unsuccessful
run for state senate in Virginia in 2015.
In a White House press briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders denied that Mr. Trump had played any role in Mr.
McCabe’s departure.
“The president wasn’t part of this decision-making process,” Ms.
Huckabee Sanders said. She said Mr. Trump stood by his previous tweets
about Mr. McCabe, but that Mr. Trump had “full confidence” in Mr. Wray
and “put all the decisions at the FBI in his hands”.
McCabe who has spent more than two decades at the organisation held a
number of FBI leadership roles and been heavily involved in
investigations into major crimes including the 2013 Boston Marathon
bombing.
