WASHINGTON — Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is suing his former employer, the Department of Justice, over his spectacular firing last year on the night before he was could have retired with benefits.He’s asking a judge to restore the benefits he would have been entitled to, had it not been for what his lawsuit asserts was President Trump’s animosity against him for investigating Trump’s links to Russia.“It was Trump’s unconstitutional plan and scheme to discredit and remove DOJ and FBI employees who were deemed to be his partisan opponents because they were not politically loyal to him,” McCabe’s lawsuit contends. “Trump demanded Plaintiff’s personal allegiance, he sought retaliation when Plaintiff refused to give it.”
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McCabe’s case marks the second wrongful dismissal suit this week against Trump’s Department of Justice brought by former FBI employee who probed Trump’s ties to Russia.Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who played an early role in the Russia investigation before he was reassigned, filed a similar suit on Tuesday. Strzok has been widely accused of anti-Trump bias by Republicans, who cite multiple text messages Strzok sent during the campaign where he disparaged Trump.The DOJ’s inspector general found in early 2018 that McCabe had inappropriately disclosed sensitive information to a reporter and then misled internal investigators about what happened. The IG referred the investigation to the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., to decide whether McCabe should be criminally charged in the matter.Cover: Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe pauses during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)