WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe stepped down Monday, ahead of his planned retirement in March, according to multiple reports.

McCabe will remain on the FBI payroll until he is eligible to retire with full benefits in mid-March, according to NBC News, citing sources.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Monday's briefing that President Donald Trump was not part of the decision-making process in McCabe's departure.

According to the New York Times, McCabe said in an email to FBI employees that he was leaving with "sadness." He praised his colleagues as "the greatest work force on earth because you speak up, you tell the truth and you do the right thing."

The Times also reported that FBI Director Christopher Wray, in his message to employees in the agency, thanked McCabe for his service.

Wray reportedly named the bureau's No. 3 official, David Bowdich, as his acting deputy, according to the director's note to the FBI.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted Monday that McCabe "is, and has been, a dedicated public servant who has served this country well."

A career civil servant who had served at the FBI since 1996, McCabe has been at the center of ongoing tensions between the law enforcement agency and Republicans.

McCabe was at the center of the inquiries into both 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and the Trump campaign's alleged connections with Russia.

McCabe has been lashed out at by Republican lawmakers alleging systemic bias against the president at the top tier of the FBI.

Trump also targeted McCabe for the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as the country's secretary of state. No charges were brought against Clinton.

Trump reportedly met with McCabe at the Oval Office after the firing of FBI Director James Comey last May, and asked him whom he voted for in 2016.

Comey was overseeing the bureau's investigation into alleged Russian interference in that year's presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

The Republican president also blasted McCabe for his wife, Jill McCabe, who had previously run as a Democrat for a seat in Virginia's state Senate and received donations from then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of Clinton.

Trump asked in a December tweet that how McCabe could lead the Clinton probe when his wife got donations from "Clinton Puppets."

Sanders said Monday that the president stands by previous comments regarding McCabe and that the White House has "some concerns" over his work at the bureau.