Justice Department Fires Embattled FBI Deputy Director Just Short Of Retirement
Updated at 12:30 a.m. ET Saturday
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Friday even though he was on the doorstep of retirement and receiving his pension after two decades of service to the bureau.
President Trump responded on Twitter just after midnight Saturday morning, calling McCabe's firing "a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy."
The attorney general accepted an internal FBI recommendation that "concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor − including under oath − on multiple occasions," Sessions said in a statement.
The internal FBI investigation recommended dismissal over McCabe's alleged "lack of candor" about contacts he had with a former Wall Street Journal reporter in 2016.
"[B]ased on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department's senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately," Sessions said.
"The FBI expects every employee
