Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump's wrath, faces the prospect of an indictment after his attorneys were unable to persuade senior Justice Department officials not to pursue charges that he lied to internal investigators.

Two people familiar with the matter said Thursday that the deputy attorney general declined an appeal from McCabe's lawyers aimed at preventing a prosecution. The people weren't authorized to discuss the issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Still, it wasn't immediately clear when or even whether the United States Attorney's Office in Washington, which has been leading the investigation , might announce charges.

McCabe's attorneys have argued that he should not face charges on accusations that he lied to internal investigators about whether he had authorized a news media leak in the fall of 2016. McCabe has denied intentionally misleading anyone.

An indictment of McCabe would refocus public attention on the chaotic months of 2016 when the FBI was entangled in presidential politics through investigations touching both main contenders — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump, her Republican opponent.

And while prosecutors are likely to try to keep a narrow focus on whether McCabe lied to investigators on particular dates, McCabe's attorneys are expected to argue that the prosecution is part of a political vendetta driven by the president.

They are likely to highlight the personal enmity between the two men , with Trump criticizing McCabe even before he took office and McCabe describing the president as a "deliberate liar."

McCabe's lawyers have said any false statements made to investigators were the product of a faulty memory, and that the interviews took place during a tumultuous time for the bureau as it investigated potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

McCabe became acting director of the FBI after Trump fired former Director James Comey on May 9, 2017.

McCabe has said his 2018 firing — for what the Justice Department called "lack of candor" — was politically motivated.

He sued the Justice Department in August, saying officials had used the inspector general's conclusions as a pretext to rid the FBI of leaders Trump perceived as biased against him.

The investigation followed an October 2016 story in The Wall Street Journal that described internal debates roiling the FBI and the Justice Department weeks before the presidential election about how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated.

The article recounted a particularly tense phone call between McCabe and a senior Justice Department official about the investigation.

The inspector general's report said McCabe told internal investigators that he had not authorized anyone at the FBI to speak with the reporter, and he did not know who did.

The report said McCabe ultimately corrected that account, and confirmed that he had encouraged the conversation with the reporter to counter a narrative that he thought was false — namely, that he had been trying to stymie investigations into Clinton and the foundation.

McCabe has been a target of Trump's attacks since news emerged in the fall of 2016 that McCabe's wife had accepted campaign contributions from a political action committee associated with former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally, during an unsuccessful run for the state Senate.