RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe responded Monday to a Wall Street Journal article that said the governor donated nearly $500,000 to the 2015 state Senate election campaign of the wife of a top FBI official who later helped oversee the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email use.
According to campaign finance records, McAuliffe’s political-action committee donated $467,500 to the campaign of Dr. Jill McCabe, who is married to Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI.
McAuliffe, a long-time friend and political ally of the Clinton family, said the report has no basis and he supported McCabe “because she was the best candidate to be a state senator, plain and simple.”
He said any insinuation that his support was tied to anything other than his desire to elect candidates who would help pass his agenda is ridiculous.
“I think we’re in silly season. If you actually read the whole article, I’m actually embarrassed for the reporter.” he said.
McAuliffe said he believes McCabe was initially recruited by Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam in February of 2015.
“Long before anything… So let’s not live in a time capsule. If you actually read the story none of it makes sense,” said McAuliffe.
McAuliffe said he then met with Jill and Andrew McCabe during a March 7 meeting.
“That was the only time I ever met her husband,” said the governor. “It was about Jill, highly qualified, she’s a medical doctor, and she’s a community leader. That’s why we were supporting her.”
Dr. McCabe announced her candidacy in March 2015, the same month it was revealed that Clinton had used a private server as secretary of state to send and receive government emails.
The FBI investigation was launched in July of 2015. At the time, Mr. McCabe was running the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office, which provided personnel and resources to the Clinton email probe
The article said the Virginia Democratic Party also donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign, according to the records.
“That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him. The figure represents more than a third of all the campaign funds Dr. McCabe raised in the effort,” the article continued.
Dr. McCabe ultimately lost the election to incumbent Republican Dick Black.
For more on the WSJ’s article click here.
