WASHINGTON - 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.

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

He has been lashed out at by Republican lawmakers alleging systemic bias against President Donald Trump at the top tier of the FBI.

The Republican president also targeted McCabe for the FBI's investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as the country's secretary of state.

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