Andrew McCabe won't face criminal charges, Department of Justice says

Sorry, President Trump: former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe won't be charged.

The Justice Department said Friday that its investigation into McCabe, who was fired in 2018 for allegedly lying to investigators about a disclosure to the media, has been dropped, and he will not face criminal charges, The New York Times reports.

"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," McCabe's lawyers said on Friday. "We are pleased that Andrew McCabe and his family can go on with their lives without this cloud hanging over them."

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

McCabe has alleged his firing was politically motivated, in a lawsuit last year claiming it was part of a "plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees" who weren't "politically loyal" to Trump. The Justice Department's inspector general concluded in a 2018 report McCabe "lacked candor" under oath multiple times when questioned by investigators about authorizing a leak to The Wall Street Journal about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe denied intentionally lying to investigators.

"Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the government at this time, we consider the matter closed," prosecutors said Friday, per The Associated Press.

Friday's news is sure to spark some angry tweets by Trump, who has repeatedly blasted McCabe on Twitter, writing in 2018 after the release of the inspector general's report, "He LIED! LIED! LIED!" Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs noted Friday that given this context, the decision not to charge McCabe "could be politically explosive."