A federal judge gave the Justice Department six weeks either to charge former FBI No. 2 Andrew McCabe or drop its investigation into whether he lied to investigators about a media disclosure, criticizing prosecutors for leaving the decision “in limbo.” Judge Reggie Walton said the Justice Department was undermining the credibility of both the department and the court by not making a decision, according to a transcript of the Monday hearing, reports the Wall Street Journal. The order comes weeks after a federal grand jury met to consider the case against McCabe without issuing an indictment, indicating the case against him was in jeopardy.
McCabe has been under investigation since the Justice Department’s internal watchdog concluded last year that he misled investigators about his role in providing information related to an investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016 to a Wall Street Journal reporter. McCabe has long disputed the allegations. McCabe, who helped oversee politically sensitive investigations related to both President Donald Trump and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, has, like his former boss James Comey, become the subject of frequent Twitter attacks by Trump. McCabe was fired in March 2018 a day before he was eligible to retire with full benefits. In a lawsuit against the Justice Department, he said his firing was unlawful and part of a plot to remove law-enforcement officials that Trump deemed insufficiently loyal to his personal interests. Walton appeared sympathetic to such arguments and said he would start ordering the release of information in litigation over records in the case if prosecutors didn’t reach a decision on McCabe. “Our public does have a right to know what’s going on,” he said.