Feb. 15 (UPI) — The Justice Department has dropped its investigation into former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over accusations he leaked information to news media, his attorneys said Friday.
A letter to McCabe’s lawyers said the Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges.
“Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the government at this time, we consider the matter closed,” said the letter, signed by J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston of the Fraud & Public Corruption Section of the Justice Department.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe from the FBI in March 2018 after the Justice Department’s inspector general determined he’d authorized FBI officials to reveal sensitive information to media about an investigation related to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The IG report accused McCabe of subsequently misleading investigators about his role in the matter.
McCabe had stepped down from his role as deputy director of the FBI months earlier.
McCabe’s lawyers, Michael Bromwich and David Schertler, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Washington, D.C., notified them the case was closed.
“At long last, justice has been done in this matter,” they said in a statement. “We said at the outset of the criminal investigation, almost two years ago, that if the facts and the law determined the result, no charges would be brought.
“We are pleased that Andrew McCabe and his family can go on with their lives without this cloud hanging over them.”
McCabe’s firing came two days before he was scheduled to retire from the FBI, jeopardizing his retirement pension and benefits. In August, he sued the Trump administration seeking compensation for what he described as his “unlawful” termination.
McCabe’s lawsuit seeks his full law enforcement pension and all other benefits, privileges and rights being withheld by the administration after he was dismissed.
The suit states that McCabe was subject to “improper political interference” in his firing, and named U.S. Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and the Justice Department as defendants, adding that President Donald Trump is accountable for their actions.
“It was Trump’s unconstitutional plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him,” the lawsuit states.
