Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Monday blamed the political “silly season” for a Wall Street Journal article that connected his in-state political activity to the FBI investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
The story — circulated widely by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and conservative media outlets — centers on $465,700 in donations from McAuliffe’s political action committee last year to Democratic state Senate candidate Jill McCabe. Her husband, Andrew McCabe, was a high-ranking FBI official at the time who was later promoted to deputy director, which gave him oversight over the Clinton email investigation.
Trump and other Republicans seized on the article, suggesting McAuliffe’s support for Jill McCabe may have led to favorable treatment for Clinton, a close McAuliffe ally who was not charged after the FBI finished its email investigation. Democrats dismissed the front-page story as overblown, arguing the timeline simply doesn’t add up because McCabe was recruited to run before Clinton’s email issue was widely known or under investigation.
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The donations came as McAuliffe and state Democrats tried to flip control of the Virginia Senate by pouring money into a handful of competitive contests. McAuliffe’s PAC, Common Good VA, gave heavily to other Democrats in close races, donating $803,500 to Alexandria city employee Jeremy McPike, who won a seat in Prince William County, and $781,500 to Richmond-area real estate developer Daniel A. Gecker, who lost.
McCabe, a doctor, was challenging longtime Sen. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, who made headlines this year for taking an unusual trip to Syria to meet with and support the war-torn country’s president, Bashar Assad.
McCabe failed to unseat Black despite having a wide fundraising advantage, and Democrats did not retake control of the closely divided Senate.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol after a jobs announcement, McAuliffe said he supported McCabe because she was the best candidate “plain and simple.”
“It’s unfortunate sometimes when you read the whole story and find out there’s no there there,” McAuliffe said.
McAuliffe said efforts to recruit McCabe began in February 2015, before news broke early the next month about Clinton’s use of a personal email account. McAuliffe said the recruitment efforts were led by Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam. The governor said he met with the McCabes on March 7, which he said was the only time he met Andrew McCabe.
“So unless I live in a time capsule, if you actually read the story, none of it makes sense,” McAuliffe said.
At a rally in Florida on Monday, Trump said the story gives “a pretty good idea” for why Clinton was not charged, adding: “We’ve never had a thing like this in the history of this country.”
The Republican Party of Virginia announced Monday that it was filing a public-records request with McAuliffe’s office seeking any emails related to Jill McCabe’s candidacy. In a statement, RPV Chairman John Whitbeck said McAuliffe “jumped at the chance” to “put a few favors in the bank at the FBI for Clinton Inc.”
Black called on Andrew McCabe to resign from the FBI. The agency told The Wall Street Journal that McCabe’s involvement in the email investigation wasn’t seen as a conflict because his wife’s campaign had ended before he was promoted to an oversight role.
In a statement, Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker said Republicans were pulling a “desperate political stunt” to “distract from Donald Trump’s losing race and inexcusable treatment of women.”
In the closing weeks of her campaign, McCabe mentioned her husband’s job in a Q&A with Lenny, an online media company launched by left-leaning actress Lena Dunham.
“My husband is the associate deputy director of the FBI. I would say it’s part of why we’re politically aware. Though, until recently, we’ve been more focused on national security rather than local politics.” McCabe said in response to a question about her daily routine. “He has an equally demanding job.”
When McAuliffe was pushing to expand Medicaid in Virginia in early 2014, Jill McCabe led him on a tour of Inova Loudoun Hospital, where she works as a pediatric emergency room physician.
When McCabe was tapped to run for the Senate, another Democrat, Army veteran and attorney Thomas V. Mulrine, had already announced his candidacy for Black’s seat.
Mulrine said in an interview Monday that he chose to step aside after it became clear that McAuliffe and Democratic dollars were lining up behind McCabe. Mulrine called McCabe a “very good person,” but said she was unknown to many in the Loudoun County-centered Senate district.
“I had never heard of her,” Mulrine said.
He said he doubted Republican claims that McCabe’s husband’s position played a role, but he said it was “at least unseemly” for the governor to be involved in recruiting and backing one Democratic candidate at the expense of another.
“I think the citizens of the county ought to choose who their representatives are and not just have somebody foisted on them by somebody from afar,” Mulrine said.
Emily Bolton, a DPVA spokeswoman, said McCabe’s background in health care made her a candidate who could “effectively counter the extreme anti-choice views and rhetoric of Dick Black.”
“Jill was the strongest candidate for the job in this critical district,” Bolton said.