WASHINGTON ��Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe plans to retire in a few months after coming under blistering criticism from some congressional Republicans, the Washington Post reported.
McCabe has been the No. 2 official at the FBI since February 2016, and would leave some time after he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits in March, the Post reported, citing sources it didn't identify. It follows the reassignment, also reported by the Post, of the FBI's general counsel.
Bloomberg wasn't immediately able to verify the report on McCabe, and the FBI didn't respond to a request for comment. But President Donald Trump jumped on the report.
"FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!" Trump posted on Twitter.
McCabe's tenure has become entangled in recent years in politically charged controversies, including the investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of private email when she was secretary of state, and the ongoing criminal investigation into whether Trump or his associates colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.
Most recently, House Republicans demanded to know what discussions McCabe might have had in 2016 with two FBI officials who exchanged text messages critical of Trump. One of them referred to a meeting in "Andy's office" where they discussed "that there's no way" Trump would be elected but "we can't take that risk."
Republicans have suggested, without proof, that may have spawned an action plan for the FBI to exploit a dossier of unverified allegations against Trump that was compiled by a former British spy and financed largely by Clinton's campaign.
The officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, are no longer part of the investigation, which is now led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
McCabe also came under Republican criticism in 2016 when he helped oversee the Clinton email investigation even though his wife had accepted donations from Democratic political organizations for an unsuccessful 2015 campaign for a Virginia state senate seat. The FBI said in a statement at the time that McCabe "played no role" in his wife's campaign "and did not participate in fundraising or support of any kind."
"He ought to be replaced. And I've said that before and I've said it to people who can do it," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said this month.
The Justice Department's inspector general is conducting a broad investigation into how the department and FBI have handled recent matters, including the Clinton investigation. McCabe's activities have also been under scrutiny by the inspector general.
McCabe joined the FBI in 1996 and held management positions in the counterterrorism division and the Washington field office.
He became the FBI's acting director after Trump fired James Comey in May, and served in that role until Aug. 2 when a new director, Christopher Wray, took charge.
Wray recently reassigned another top official, FBI general counsel James Baker, to a different role within the agency, the Washington Post reported Friday.
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(Billy House and Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report.)
