Trump slams FBI deputy, who reportedly plans to retire

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump again took aim Saturday at deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, saying he was “racing the clock to retire,” as US media reported McCabe plans to step down.

“FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits,” Trump tweeted. “90 days to go?!!!”

CNN, CBS and The Washington Post all reported that the 49-year-old McCabe plans to retire, possibly in March, when he will be eligible for full pension benefits. An FBI spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McCabe has faced intense pressure from Trump, who for more than a year has challenged the FBI official’s connections to the Democratic Party even while suggesting more recently that the long-respected agency was “in tatters.”

But with administration officials themselves under mounting pressure from the investigation by former FBI chief Robert Mueller into links between Trump’s election campaign and Russia, the president’s pointed criticism of McCabe has raised concerns among Democrats who fear he might be laying the groundwork to oust, or at least undermine, Mueller.

In a second tweet Saturday, Trump suggested that McCabe’s wife, a Virginia politician, had been given $700,000 by allies of Hillary Clinton at a time he was involved in the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.

The FBI has said McCabe did not start overseeing the Clinton investigation until his wife’s campaign for the Virginia Senate was over.

A Justice Department inspector general has been examining McCabe’s role in the Clinton investigation.

Democrats have urged McCabe to resist pressure to step down, which they say is politically motivated.