Donald Trump’s campaign called for the FBI to explain itself Monday after reports that a top Clinton family political ally authorized more than $600,000 in campaign contributions to the wife of an FBI official who helped investigate Hillary Clinton’s secret email account.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s political action committee contributed $467,500 to Dr. Jill McCabe, and the state Democratic Party gave another $207,788 to her state Senate bid, hoping to defeat an incumbent GOP senator and win control of one of the chambers in Virginia’s legislature.
Dr. McCabe’s husband, Andrew McCabe, oversaw the FBI’s field office in Washington, D.C., which was providing the manpower to investigate Mrs. Clinton’s secret email server at the time of the donations. Mr. McCabe would later be promoted to be deputy FBI director, serving under Director James Comey, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“The fact that this was allowed to occur shows either outright negligent behavior by the FBI or a level of corruption that is beyond belief,” said Jason Miller, a spokesman for Mr. Trump. “The FBI needs to fully address these issues as soon as possible.”
Mr. McAuliffe is one of the Clintons’ closest allies and fundraisers, and his 2013 campaign for Virginia governor was seen as a test-run for Mrs. Clinton’s presidential bid. The Clinton campaign had him on its long list of potential vice presidents.
But Mr. McAuliffe had local concerns in mind with the donations from his PAC, Common Good VA — Dr. McCabe’s race was considered one of only a few that could swing control of the Virginia Senate.
The $467,500 the PAC gave Dr. McCabe amounted to 13 percent of its spending in 2015. But two other Senate candidates got even more money from the PAC, as did the state Democratic Party, which collected nearly $1 million from the PAC.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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