Ex-FBI deputy fired days before retirement

WASHINGTON - Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who has endured a year of withering attacks from President Donald Trump, was fired by the Justice Department on Friday just days before he was to retire.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions reportedly accepted an internal recommendation to dismiss McCabe, who was accused of leaking information to the media.

"After an extensive and fair investigation ... the department's Office of the Inspector General provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe," Sessions said in a statement on Friday.

The FBI then issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of McCabe, Sessions said, adding that McCabe was found to have "made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor on multiple occasions".

McCabe's dismissal came two days before his 50th birth-day, when he would have been eligible to retire from the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his full pension. The firing, which comes nine months after Trump fired Comey, puts McCabe's pension in jeopardy.

Sessions said he felt justified in firing McCabe after the Justice Department's findings.

"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and accountability," Sessions said.

But McCabe, who played a crucial role in the bureau's investigations of Hillary Clinton and Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, denied allegations that he made unauthorized disclosures to the media and said he is facing retaliation by the Trump administration.

In a lengthy statement, McCabe said he believes he is being politically targeted because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comey's claims that Trump tried to pressure him into killing the Russia probe.

Trump ousted Comey last year and acknowledged in a televised interview that he fired Comey over "this Russia thing".

Overly harsh

It also is likely to raise questions about whether McCabe received an overly harsh punishment due to political pressure by the Republican president, who has blasted McCabe on Twitter and called for his ouster.

Comey's firing paved the way for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to tap Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia. Trump has denied there was any collusion.

"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 in his statement.

However, Trump posted a message on his Twitter account early on Saturday, praising the action and blasting both McCabe and Comey.

Trump wrote: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!"

Republican Representative Lee Zeldin labeled the firing "appropriate" and "timely".

But Democrat Adam Schiff said that the action, coming after Trump urged the Justice department to deny McCabe his pension, "gives the action an odious taint".

Xinhua - Reuters - Afp

(China Daily 03/18/2018 page9)