[9][10] Sessions announced that he based his decision on reports from the DOJ Inspector General and the FBI's disciplinary office saying that McCabe had improperly authorized releases of information to The Wall Street Journal about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and had misled agents who questioned him about it on four occasions, three of which were under oath.

[18] In August 2020, George Mason University announced McCabe would be joining the faculty of the Schar School of Policy and Government as distinguished visiting professor.

[40] In a February 2019 interview with Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes McCabe said that in the days after Comey was fired, he ordered the probe of possible obstruction of justice by Trump, taking action to protect the Russian-interference investigation from successors who might terminate it, because he or Robert Mueller could be removed from their positions.

"[41] McCabe also had concerns about whether Trump "had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests" causing "the highest levels of American law enforcement [to try] to figure out what to do with the president", including the possibility of advocating vice presidential and Cabinet use of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to have Trump suspended from office, and ultimately removed by Congress.

[43] The Wall Street Journal published on October 23–24, 2016, regarding an investigation of the Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, suggesting that McCabe had a potential conflict of interest caused by donations to his wife's campaign as a Democrat for the Virginia State Senate.

[48] McCabe did not oversee the Clinton email server probe while his wife was running for office, and he was excluded from FBI investigations into public corruption cases in Virginia.

According to USA Today, "the internal documents, published on the FBI's website, support what the bureau has asserted previously: that McCabe had no conflicts when he assumed oversight of the Clinton investigation.

His role began in February 2016, following his appointment as deputy director and three months after his wife lost her bid for a state Senate seat.

[citation needed] In January, 2018, the Nunes memo, which alleges improper activities in seeking a warrant to surveil former Trump associate Carter Page, was prepared by the House Intelligence Committee.

It asserted that McCabe "testified before the [House Intelligence] Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier", a document many Trump supporters insist is completely false.

Democratic representative Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the Nunes memo "seriously mischaracterizes the testimony of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

The OIG also concluded that McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of an ongoing investigation in the manner described in this report violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct.

[57][58] In regards to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the Justice Department Inspector General report published on December 9, 2019, did not find McCabe engaged in politically biased actions against Trump.

[62] After meeting with Wray concerning the pending OIG report on the 2016 leaks and a possible demotion,[49][50] McCabe announced on January 29, 2018, that he was stepping down as deputy director, effective immediately.

[68][69] According to Office of Personnel Management regulations, McCabe was entitled to a 30-day notice prior to dismissal, but that period could have been shortened to seven days if there is reasonable cause to believe an imprisonable crime was committed.

He cited the inspector general's report, which had not yet been publicly released, saying that "Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.

[82][83] The report also stated that his approval of disclosures to the media was within his power, but was a policy violation because it was done "in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership".

[85] In September 2020, federal district court judge Randy Moss denied a Justice Department motion to dismiss the suit, allowing the case to proceed to the discovery phase.

[86] On March 19, 2018, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the FBI requesting documents related to McCabe's termination.

[87] Instead, beginning in July 2018, the Justice Department brought the case before a grand jury attempting to indict McCabe for his actions outlined in the OIG report released in April, 2018.

[88][89] The grand jury apparently declined to indict McCabe,[89] and in September 2019 former DOJ inspector general Michael Bromwich, representing McCabe, wrote a letter to Jessie Liu, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, stating "It is clear that no indictment has been returned" by the grand jury, based on press reports and a discussion he had had with the prosecutors involved in the case, Joseph Cooney and Molly Gaston.

McCabe filed a wrongful termination suit against the DOJ in August 2019, asserting his firing was intended to remove officials who had been deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump.

[90][88][91][92] In August 2019, McCabe filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Department of Justice, saying his firing, which took effect only hours before his scheduled retirement, was the result of Trump's improper political interference.

[93] In early 2019, Attorney General William Barr assigned prosecutor John Durham to conduct an inquiry into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

[95] In a court proceeding the same day, Federal Judge Reggie B. Walton heard arguments stemming from a July 30, 2018, lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington because the FBI had been unresponsive to its March Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The following month, Liu determined there was insufficient evidence to indict McCabe, and on February 1, 2020, she was transferred to the Treasury Department to await her confirmation, as Barr replaced her with his close advisor Timothy Shea.

[102] Later that day, The Hill said: "(S)ome have questioned whether the decision Friday to drop possible charges is an attempt to quell controversy surrounding the Justice Department's recommended sentencing for longtime Trump aide Roger Stone, which was reduced after complaints by the president."

The Hill also quoted McCabe himself saying: “I don’t think I’ll ever be free of this President and his maniacal rage that he’s directed towards me and my wife since October of 2016 for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

[110] The Times reported in November 2022 that Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly said the president told him Comey and McCabe were among his perceived political enemies he wanted to "get the IRS on".

[112] An investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) concluded that the audits were in fact randomly selected and not political retribution.