Updated at 4:53 p.m.

The Department of Justice’s inspector general has referred former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C., his counsel confirmed Thursday.

“We were advised of the referral within the past few weeks. Although we believe the referral is unjustified, the standard for an IG referral is very low," said Michael Bromwich, counsel for McCabe.

The inspector general sent the referral to federal prosecutors based on findings in report that McCabe “lacked candor” on four separate occasions. Three of those times were while McCabe was under oath.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., will now determine whether McCabe’s disclosures to the media are a crime.

"We have already met with staff members from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. We are confident that, unless there is inappropriate pressure from high levels of the Administration, the US Attorney’s Office will conclude that it should decline to prosecute," said Bromwich.

It's unclear whether McCabe will be charged with a crime after he misled investigators about the sourcing of an October 2016 article in the Wall Street Journal about the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

McCabe told investigators that he did not authorize the disclosure to the reporter, but the inspector general found that to be untrue.

McCabe also lied to former FBI Director James Comey about what he authorized FBI officials to tell the Wall Street Journal reporter.

Comey said earlier Thusrday he could “potentially” testify against his former deputy in a criminal trial.

“Sure, given that the [inspector general’s] report reflects interactions that Andy McCabe had with me and other FBI senior executives, I could well be a witness,” Comey told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a Thursday afternoon interview, adding, "I like him very much as a person, but sometimes even good people do things they shouldn't do."

McCabe — who was fired as FBI deputy director last month days before he would have collected a full pension — hit back at Comey on Wednesday, saying he was not telling the truth in an interview earlier that day when he cited the IG report's finding that he lied.

