UPDATE 2: The New York Times reveals McCabe stepped down Monday "after months of withering criticism from President Trump, telling friends he felt pressure from head of the bureau to leave."
The Times adds FBI Director Christopher Wray was concerned about an upcoming Inspector General report regarding the FBI's role in investigating both Hillary Clinton and the Trump campaign for different reasons during the 2016 election.
Mr. McCabe was at the center of the inquiries into both Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russian intelligence officers.
CNN:
FBI Director Chris Wray hinted to FBI staff in an all-employee email that a government watchdog investigation played a role in FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's departure Monday, sources who have seen the memo told CNN.
Wray said in the message he could not comment on the coming inspector general report about the FBI's conduct during the 2016 election and defended himself as not being swayed by politics.
Wray reportedly offered to move McCabe into another job for the rest of his tenure, but that would have been a demotion so McCabe chose to leave instead.
Read more: Andrew McCabe Steps Down as F.B.I. Deputy Director Under Pressure (NYT)
Wray hints to FBI staff that coming IG report played role in McCabe departure (CNN)
UPDATE: NBC News reports one of President Trump's early attacks on FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe included fuming over fired FBI Director James Comey using an FBI plane to get home to DC after being dismissed while working in Los Angeles and calling McCabe's wife a loser.
Trump demanded to know why Comey was allowed to fly on an FBI plane after he had been fired, these people said. McCabe told the president he hadn’t been asked to authorize Comey’s flight, but if anyone had asked, he would have approved it, three people familiar with the call recounted to NBC News.
The president was silent for a moment and then turned on McCabe, suggesting he ask his wife how it feels to be a loser — an apparent reference to a failed campaign for state office in Virginia that McCabe’s wife made in 2015.
McCabe replied: “OK, sir.” Trump then hung up the phone.
(...)
The phone call between Trump and McCabe after Comey’s firing last May underscores the president’s continued fixation on where the loyalties of people around him may lie and his frustration with autonomous arms of the government — particularly ones involved in the Russia investigation. It’s also emblematic of his early and persistent distrust of top Justice Department officials.
The combination of those sentiments whipped the president into such a fury over Comey last year that he wanted his firing to abruptly strip him of any trappings that come with the office and leave him across the country scrambling to find his own way home.
McCabe detailed his conversation with Trump after Comey’s firing to several people at the Justice Department, people familiar with the matter said.
Full story: Trump’s gripes against McCabe included wife’s politics, Comey’s ride home (NBC News)
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is leaving the bureau, effective immediately.
He had long been expected to retire from government in March, when he was eligible to receive his benefits for his years of service. Now, he is vacating his post atop the FBI and taking time away from the agency — but he will technically remain an employee of the bureau until his official retirement in March.
CNN reports at least one source suggesting this was not McCabe's decision.
One source said today’s departure was not in the plans as of Friday. The source said McCabe was told this morning to step down.
A second source described McCabe’s departure as being “removed."
Another source familiar said it was a “mutual” decision: “It was mutual. He had enough of being undermined and criticized.” But Trump and the admin was “not happy” with him," the same source said
FBI Director Christopher Wray brought in his executive assistant directors and told them McCabe was leaving — effective noon today, a different source said.
McCabe has left the building already, CNN is told.
However, one source briefed on the matter said McCabe told senior executives about his decision and portrayed it as his own. The source disputed the characterization that McCabe was removed.
CNBC:
Trump and some Republicans in Congress have accused McCabe of political bias, citing his role at the FBI during investigations related to Hillary Clinton and Trump. They question his role in the Clinton email probe and the investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin.
(...)
Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder praised McCabe's character and blasted "bogus attacks" on federal law enforcement agencies as attempts to distract attention.
During her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president was not a part of this decision-making process and has full confidence in Chris Wray, head of the FBI. She referred additional questions to the FBI.
But as Politico points out, McCabe is a top Trump target.
McCabe was one of three top FBI officials who were part of discussions of an Oval Office conversation in which former FBI Director James Comey said Trump urged him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The episode is being scrutinized by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his ongoing probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Foreign Policy reported Friday the president "pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation."
McCabe was one of those senior FBI officials.
The FBI's deputy director is stepping down (ABC News)
Source: McCabe was told to step down (CNN)
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, frequent target of Trump's ire, steps down: NBC News (CNBC)
McCabe out as FBI's No. 2 (Politico)