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| Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director, quits after Trump criticism | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Federal Bureau of Investigation's deputy director, whom US President Donald Trump accused of political bias, has resigned. | |
| Andrew McCabe was forced to step down ahead of his official retirement date in March, reports CBS News. | |
| His exit from the top law enforcement agency comes a week after a report that Mr Trump wanted him out. | |
| It was also reported last week that the president had asked Mr McCabe during an Oval Office meeting whom he voted for. | It was also reported last week that the president had asked Mr McCabe during an Oval Office meeting whom he voted for. |
| Why is this significant? | |
| Mr McCabe briefly became acting FBI director last May after Mr Trump fired its previous chief, James Comey. | |
| Mr Comey had been overseeing the bureau's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. | |
| Mr Trump eventually nominated Christopher Wray as the new FBI director, and he was confirmed by the Senate in August. | |
| Mr Wray recently threatened to resign after being pressured by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mr McCabe, Washington DC news outlet Axios reported last week. | |
| Mr McCabe, who was already expected to step down in early 2018 upon becoming eligible for his pension, is now on leave ahead of his official retirement date, CBS News reports. | |
| Purge? | |
| By Anthony Zurcher, BBC News | |
| Andrew McCabe had become a lightning rod for Republican criticism of the FBI's handling of the investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. Now he's heading for - or, perhaps, being pushed toward - the exits a bit earlier than he planned. | |
| Donald Trump had already been explicit in his criticism of the bureau's second-in-command during the tumultuous 2016 presidential election season. In a late December tweet, the president essentially counted the days until Mr McCabe's planned springtime retirement. | |
| FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly threatened to resign rather than sack his deputy director. Something changed. | |
| Perhaps the political pressure from Republicans became too much. Or maybe, as Democrats have warned, this is the beginning of a political-tinged purge of the nation's top law-enforcement agency. | |
| If there's something more concerning about Mr McCabe's tenure, beyond a Democratic-affiliated wife or his name surfacing in text messages in 2016 between two FBI employees who had been critical of Mr Trump, it's only a matter of time before it comes to light. | |
| What's clear at this point, however, is that the Russian investigation is increasingly becoming mired in partisan trench warfare - and it could directly affect how Robert Mueller's special investigation proceeds. | |
| Why did Trump criticise McCabe? | |
| The Republican president has previously criticised Mr McCabe because his wife, Dr Jill McCabe, ran as a Democrat for a Senate seat in Virginia. | |
| Her campaign received $675,000 in donations from the Virginia Democratic Party and a political funding committee aligned with Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump's 2016 election rival. | |
| Mr Trump has railed against Mr McCabe and his wife on Twitter, calling the FBI chief a "Comey friend". | |
| Last July he tweeted: "Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!" | |
| The Washington Post reported last week that Mr McCabe was disturbed by a question he was asked by the president during a get-to-know-you Oval Office meeting. | |
| Mr Trump had reportedly asked Mr McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 US presidential election, according to current and former officials in the report. |