WASHINGTON _ The Senate Judiciary chairman said Monday he wants Andrew McCabe removed as deputy director of the FBI, a day before he is scheduled to testify behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee in its Russia investigation.
"He oughta be replaced. And I've said that before and I've said it to people who can do it," panel Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, told reporters.
Grassley has questioned whether McCabe has a conflict of interest and is biased against President Donald Trump. McCabe's wife in 2015 ran for a state Senate seat in Virginia, backed in part with money from associates of Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in last year's presidential election.
Such concerns with McCabe have increased among Republicans with the recent release of text messages that many Republicans claimed showed anti-Trump bias by agent Peter Strzok, who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russians to help get him elected.
The president has complained on Twitter that his Attorney General Jeff Sessions should have fired McCabe a long time ago.
Grassley said the president shouldn't intervene to have McCabe removed and instead leave that up to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
"Trump ought to stay out of it," Grassley said. "I think it's a Christopher Wray job."
FBI spokesman Andrew Ames declined to comment.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, said in an appearance on Fox News last week he'd be "a little surprised" if McCabe still had his job this week.
McCabe's closed-door interview had been arranged after months of efforts by committee Republicans who had been angered over what they said was an inability to get more cooperation from the FBI in turning over material about the investigation. House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes of California has suggested preparing contempt of Congress action against the FBI and the Justice Department.
Republicans, who have long wanted to question McCabe over how the FBI used a now-famous dossier about Trump with unverified accusations of collusion, also want to ask about the Strzok text messages.
Grassley and other Republicans have said they want to know what McCabe knows about a particular text message from Strzok in August 2016 _ during the presidential campaign _ talking about a need for some "insurance policy" in the case of a Trump victory. They also want to know what McCabe knows about demoted Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr, who was reportedly contracted to help prepare opposition research on Trump.
