Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is holding onto his pension just days before he is set to officially retire.
McCabe was at the Justice Department to meet with Scott Schools, the most senior career attorney in the department, as well as other officials, for a majority of the afternoon Thursday, to make a case why he should be allowed to retire and not be fired.
Schools reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who in turn reports to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The decision to fire McCabe before Sunday, and thus strip McCabe of his full pension and benefits, is in Sessions’ hands.
McCabe, who has been with the FBI for 21 years, arrived around 1 p.m. Thursday and left out a door away from media just after 5 p.m.
McCabe, who was appointed by former FBI Director James Comey in January 2016, announced his intent earlier this year to go on “terminal leave” until he could retire and be eligible for full pension in mid-March.
By retiring Sunday, his 50th birthday, McCabe would get full retirement benefits.
The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility has recommended McCabe be fired before Sunday because of allegations in a still unreleased inspector general’s report.
According to multiple reports, as the Justice Department’s inspector general was looking into the Justice Department and FBI’s handling of the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email account, it found McCabe was not forthcoming in what he told investigators. That is what triggered the FBI’s disciplinary process.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been reviewing the FBI’s actions related to Clinton’s email for more than a year, and previously told lawmakers he is aiming to release the report in the “March, April time period.”
McCabe was criticized as biased by both President Trump and Republican lawmakers earlier this year because his wife took donations from a Clinton ally while running as a Democrat for a Virginia state Senate seat, though the FBI released internal documents showing there was no conflict of interest for McCabe.
It was reported in January that Sessions, at Trump’s was pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray to fire McCabe, but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed.
