Days After Leaving FBI, More on Probe Into McCabe

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe left the FBI earlier this week, but it looks like he'll still be on the DOJ's radar for a while. Sources tell the Washington Post the agency's former No. 2 has been the subject of a months-long probe by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who's looking into why McCabe seemed to stall for three weeks or so right before the 2016 election in investigating emails tied to Hillary Clinton. In late September 2016, New York FBI agents found on the laptop of ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner work emails that belonged to wife Huma Abedin, Clinton's right-hand aide. McCabe was said to have been told about these emails by early October, but there seemed to be no action taken on the emails for weeks, per the sources.

Also murky is when then-FBI Director James Comey was alerted to the emails; senior DOJ officials reportedly learned of them by mid-October. At the center of the IG probe is whether McCabe or others in the FBI wanted to hold off acting on the emails until after the election. McCabe's supporters, however, say it wasn't a purposeful stall: Time was simply needed to go over the emails for possible relevance before taking the next steps. These supporters also say McCabe was caught in a back-and-forth between high-level DOJ officials who didn't think the probe would lead to anything and FBI agents who were still trying to find evidence of wrongdoing. Comey sent his letter to Congress revealing the presence of the emails on Oct. 28, 2016—a letter many say cost Clinton the election. (More Andrew McCabe stories.)