FBI director Christopher Wray put pressure on deputy director Andrew McCabe to resign after reviewing an inspector general report on the bureau’s handling of investigations pertaining to the 2016 presidential election, 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”
News of McCabe’s abrupt announcement came Monday after previous reports indicated he would retire in early March. McCabe has long been a source of political controversy in the bureau, after it was revealed his wife had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from Clinton-allied political groups during a local race in Virginia.
McCabe went on to play a key role in the FBI investigation into then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and did not recuse himself until the reports of his wife’s connection to the nominee surfaced. McCabe also played a role in the 2016 investigation into alleged contact between members of the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
The inspector general report which appears to have found damaging information on McCabe’s handling of the cases in 2016 has been praised by Democrats in the past. “My reaction is that it’s entirely appropriate and very necessary but also not surprising,” Clinton’s own press secretary Brian Fallon said at the time.
“I support what they’re doing,” Senator Dick Durbin said. “It’s long overdue.”