The Justice Department is now investigating Andrew McCabe's role in the Clinton investigation

For several months, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has been the subject of an internal investigation by the Department of Justice, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The DOJ's inspector general is reportedly examining McCabe's role in the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

At issue, the Post says, is how McCabe handled the emails that were found on the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, during an unrelated FBI investigation. Agents in the FBI's office in New York reportedly told McCabe about the existence of the emails on Weiner's computer in "late September or early October," the Post reports, or roughly three to four weeks before then-FBI Director James Comey wrote a letter to Congress revealing the findings.

Some FBI officials apparently believe McCabe intentionally sat on the email revelation in an effort to delay investigating them until after the election. The new emails prompted Comey to reopen the investigation via the letter to Congress, only to close it again soon after because they were determined to contain no new information. Eleven days after Comey sent his letter, Donald Trump was elected president.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"It is unclear whether the inspector general has reached any conclusions" on whether McCabe intentionally delayed reporting the Weiner email findings because the election was approaching, the Post says. McCabe resigned from the FBI on Monday. Read more about the internal investigation at The Washington Post.