During their final days of access to FBI files and computers Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok — before losing their jobs — each allegedly tried to destroy evidence and documents, per well-placed FBI and DOJ sources.

But they were nabbed by a sting operation.

Two of the supposed brightest minds who served the FBI — and led the country’s Intel apparatus — each separately set out to allegedly destroy incriminating evidence before their departures from the Bureau. And neither one had any clue they were being watched.

But FBI Director Christopher Wray had suspected as much and — working with personnel from the Inspector General’s office — set up a sting-like operation to prevent against evidence destruction, both documents and electronic, two FBI sources confirm.

Though at differing times, McCabe and Strzok were under 24-hour surveillance both at the office and outside FBI HQ in Washington D.C. And any documents, files, and databases that were deleted or manipulated by McCabe and Strzok were being recorded and documented by federal agents. The original records were restored after the duo vacated the FBI.

“They had no clue they were being watched,” one FBI source said.

One insider said “there were similar patterns” in what McCabe and Strzok accessed at the FBI prior to their departures.

Were federal agents and the Inspector General running wiretaps on McCabe’s and Strzok’s phones while they were employed at FBI?

“It’s a wise deduction,” one FBI source said.

McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Strzok was forced to resign after a brutal public hearing on Capitol Hill. Both lingered at the FBI for much longer than they should have but there was little rush to expedite their departures while the sting operations were up and running. And the targets were playing along.

Now what?

Federal sources said a grand jury has been convened involving McCabe and Strzok — and other former FBI — and the evidence gathered by federal officials during their final weeks at the FBI will be front and center but the grand jury will also be examining other violations during their official tenures at FBI.

“Huber is running a grand jury from what I hear,” a DOJ source confirmed, calling the entire process ‘Hush” given the high-profile FBI-linked players involved. “There is so much to tackle but from what I know, the grand jury is now moving into the witness phase.”

Utah US attorney John Huber was selected by Sessions to examine Republican claims of FBI misconduct and the FBI’s failure to examine Hillary Clinton’s ties to a Russian nuclear agency.

Sessions quietly tapped Huber in 2017 to work with the Justice Department’s inspector general. It appears the Justice Department is taking FBI corruption probes to the next level.

Time will tell.