A conservative nonprofit government watchdog called Monday for the FBI’s deputy director to recuse himself from the Hillary Clinton email investigation over a potential conflict of interest.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has played a leadership role in the agency’s investigation of Clinton’s use of private email addresses and a homebrew server located in her New York mansion while leading the Department of State.

Meanwhile, PACs close to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe – a long-time Clinton fund-raiser and political intimate – donated nearly $675,000 to the failed state senate campaign of McCabe’s wife. (RELATED: McAuliffe’s Donations To FBI Official’s Wife Launches Investigation)

“FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should recuse himself from further involvement in the Hillary Clinton email investigation,” Cause of Action Institute Vice President John J. Vecchione said in a statement. “Regardless of whether any illegal or unethical conduct occurred, these campaign contributions present a serious potential conflict of interest.”

The FBI’s Clinton probe was reopened Friday after investigators recently discovered 650,000 previously unseen emails on a computer device shared by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her now-estranged husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat.

McCabe also instructed FBI agents who wanted to pursue a Clinton Foundation investigation aggressively to “stand down,” The Wall Street Journal recently reported.

“Recent complaints within the FBI that Mr. McCabe instructed some agents to ‘stand down’ on further investigations raise additional concerns,” Vecchione said in his statement.

Cause of Action Institute filed a Freedom of Information request related to the potential conflict of interest surrounding McAuliffe, McCabe and the Clinton investigation and requested the Department of Justice Inspector General to launch a probe over the matter.

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