Trump attacks Clinton over report her ally aided FBI official’s wife

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seized on a report about a Hillary Clinton ally’s political donations to frame his Democratic rival as corrupt at a Monday rally in the key state of Florida. 

{mosads}Trump focused on a Wall Street Journal report that disclosed the fact Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Virginia state Senate candidate, Democrat Jill McCabe. Her husband, Andrew McCabe, is the deputy director of the FBI and helped oversee the agency’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State. 

“Just today, there are shocking new revelations that you’ve seen — front page of the Wall Street Journal — about how the Clinton campaign has corrupted our government,” Trump told the crowd at a rally in St. Augustine, Fla.

After he briefly explained the Journal piece, he stepped away from the lectern to give his supporters time to jeer at the report. 

“It’s absolutely disgraceful, it’s absolutely terrible and its unbelievable how Hillary Clinton got away with the email lie, the email scam, the email corruption, but now at least we have a pretty good idea.”

McAuliffe’s political action committee donated $467,5000 to McCabe, according to the Journal, while the Virginia Democratic Party spent $207,788 in support of state Senate campaign. 

The total the PAC raised and spent on her bid is more than a third of all the funds McCabe raised, though she eventually lost to the incumbent Republican. 

McAuliffe’s spokesperson told the Journal the donation had no connection to the FBI investigation of Clinton, and the FBI told the paper in a statement that Andrew McCabe did not play a role in his wife’s campaign and was only promoted to his oversight role after his wife’s campaign ended.

But Trump alleged Monday on the stump that Clinton knew the money was being paid, despite lack of public evidence to back that claim. 

“Yet another crime, one of so many, and she has to be held accountable because she knew that money, $675,000 plus, was being paid,” Trump said. 

“So how is she allowed to continue to run for president?”

McAuliffe is a longtime Clinton ally who chaired her 2008 presidential campaign and co-chaired former President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection bid.