RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Donald Trump was out of bounds when he accused rival Hillary Clinton of committing a “criminal act” by giving large campaign contributions to the wife of an FBI official who later supervised the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s email practices when she was secretary of state.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump reacted to a Wall Street Journal report that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe helped fund the failed state Senate campaign of the FBI official’s wife. Noting that Democrat McAuliffe is close to the Clintons, Trump said any donation from McAuliffe amounts to a donation from the Democratic presidential candidate.
“Now, that’s Clinton giving the money, because that’s how close they are,” Trump said. “She gave money at a huge clip, $675,000 to the wife of the FBI agent who was in charge of her investigation. Let me tell you something – that’s a criminal act.”
Trump may have a legitimate gripe about the FBI’s conflict-of-interest policies, but his assertion that Clinton tried to influence a key investigator through donations to his wife are incorrect because her husband didn’t become involved in the email probe until after her bid for office had already failed. There’s also no indication that the timing and amount of McAuliffe’s donations were anything but routine.
Virginia Democrats, led by Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, identified and began recruiting Dr. Jill McCabe to run for the state Senate months before the FBI began its investigation into Clinton’s emails. And the FBI says McCabe’s husband, Andrew McCabe, was promoted to deputy director of the FBI and took a supervisory role in the email investigation three months after his wife’s unsuccessful campaign had ended.