This story was updated at 12:31 a.m. on March 17

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired Friday evening, less than 48 hours before he planned to formally retire and collect a full pension.

Officials at the FBI recommended that he be fired before he had planned to retire on Sunday, his 50th birthday.

In a lengthy statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General provided its report on "allegations of misconduct" by McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility "after an extensive and fair investigation."

"The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor − including under oath − on multiple occasions," Sessions' statement said.

Thus, Sessions said according to department rules, and because of the IG report, findings of the FBI's Office of Processional Responsibility and the recommendation of Scott Schools — the department's most senior attorney — "I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately."

McCabe, a 21-year-veteran of the bureau, had asked senior officials in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s office Thursday afternoon to be allowed to retire. But the decision ultimately was in Sessions’ hands due to the high-ranking nature of McCabe.

McCabe, who was appointed by former FBI Director James Comey in January 2016, announced his intent earlier this year to go on “terminal leave” until he could retire and be eligible for full pension in mid-March. By retiring Sunday McCabe would have been able to get full retirement benefits.

It is unclear now what part of his pension he will receive.

In an extensive statement from his representatives, McCabe said he and his family “have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country.”

“The President’s tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service,” McCabe said. “And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us. No more.”

The report about McCabe's conduct has not yet been released, and it is unclear when it will be. The separate report about McCabe came as the Justice Department’s inspector general was looking into the FBI’s handling of the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email account.

According to McCabe, the IG’s investigation into him was part of “attacks on my credibility” and stemmed from “from my attempt to explain the FBI’s involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton.”

“I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes,” said McCabe. “Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.”

According to MCCabe, he shared information with a Wall Street Journal reporter involving his public affairs officer and a legal counsel — as deputy director he was one of three people authorized to share such information — and FBI Director Christopher Wray knew what he was doing.

The Wall Street Journal article was published on Oct. 30, 2016, and details how McCabe pushed back against other top FBI officials about how to handle the Clinton email investigation.

When he was asked about the exchange with the reporter, McCabe said he “answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.”

But according to McCabe, he is being “singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of [former FBI Director] James Comey.”

“This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration’s ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work,” said McCabe.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been reviewing the FBI’s actions related to Clinton’s email server for more than a year, and previously told lawmakers he is aiming to release the larger report in the “March, April time period.”

McCabe faced accusation of bias from President Trump and Republican lawmakers because his wife took donations from a Clinton ally while running (unsuccessfully) as a Democrat for a Virginia state Senate seat in 2015, though the FBI released internal documents showing there was no conflict of interest for McCabe.

Trump criticized what role McCabe played in the FBI investigations into Clinton, and even took to Twitter to chastise him after it was reported McCabe would leave the bureau in the spring. The president reportedly called McCabe into the Oval Office after he fired Comey for a meeting, and then asked him which candidate he voted for in the 2016 presidential election, the Washington Post reported in January.

Trump also interviewed McCabe to replace Comey after he was fired as the FBI's director in May 2017. McCabe served as acting director before Wray was confirmed by the Senate in August 2017.

In a tweet sent out just after midnight Saturday, Trump celebrated McCabe's firing as a "great day for democracy."



Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018



David Bowdich, the FBI’s associate deputy director, is expected to replace McCabe.