Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida on Sunday said deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe should have been able to retire instead of being fired just two days short of locking in his pension benefits.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions terminated Mr. McCabe late Friday for allegedly misleading investigators about authorizing the disclosure of information about the Clinton Foundation from FBI officials to the press.
His termination likely cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits he accrued during his 21-year career.
“I don’t like the way it happened. He should’ve been allowed to finish through the weekend,” Mr. Rubio, a Republican, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Mr. Rubio said the inspector general hasn’t finalized and released his report on the episode, so impacting Mr. McCabe’s retirement plans seemed premature.
“Forty-eight hours to go before retirement, I would’ve certainly done it differently,” the senator said. “Given the fact there’s still this report out there that hasn’t come in.”
“I’m not the president,” he added. “But I certainly would’ve done it differently if I was.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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