Virginia's governor is under FBI investigation over campaign donations

Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virginia's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, is under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department over campaign fundraising, CNN reported on Monday, citing U.S. officials briefed on the probe.

The investigation is focusing, at least in part, on whether contributions to McAuliffe's 2013 gubernatorial campaign, including $120,000 from a Chinese businessman, Wang Wenliang, violated the law, according to CNN.

As part of the probe, investigators have scrutinized McAuliffe's time as a board member of the Clinton Global Initiative, part of the charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton, CNN said.

McAuliffe was co-chairman of Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid.

An attorney for McAuliffe's campaign told CNN in a statement that the governor had not been contacted but that he would cooperate if he were.

"Neither the governor nor his former campaign have knowledge of this matter, but as reported, contributions to the campaign from Mr. Wang were completely lawful. The governor will certainly cooperate with the government if he is contacted about it," campaign attorney Marc Elias said in the statement.

The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment. "As a matter of policy, the department generally neither confirms nor denies whether a matter is under investigation," the department said. 

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney)