Hillary Clinton met with the Chinese businessman at the center of a federal investigation into Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D.) during a 2013 fundraiser at her Washington, D.C. home, according to a Time report.
Clinton shook hands with Wang Wenliang during the Sept. 30 event. Less than a month later, Wang would donate $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation, ultimately pledging a total of $2 million to the foundation throughout the year.
McAuliffe, who was on the board of the Clinton Global Initiative, invited Wang to the fundraiser three weeks after one of the businessman's companies, West Legend Corp., contributed $60,000 to his gubernatorial campaign. The company gave a total of $120,000 to McAuliffe’s bid.
Wang’s representative told Time the event at Clinton’s personal residence was one of at least three meetings between McAuliffe and the businessman.
Just days earlier, McAuliffe denied ever encountering Wang. The governor vowed that he "did no deals" with Wang, adding, "I would not know the man if he sat in a chair next to me."
He later admitted during a radio interview with WTOP that he had met the businessman "once or twice in my life."
Wang’s representative told Time that the second meeting between McAuliffe and the businessman occurred at the Virginia state capitol after McAuliffe won the governor seat. The two reportedly discussed expanding a soybean export agreement between Wang and the State of Virginia.
Former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D.) arranged the third meeting between McAuliffe and Wang where they again discussed soybean exports. Wang’s company, Dandong Port Co., gave Hodges $1.5 million in 2012 to lobby Congress.
The FBI and Justice Department have been probing McAuliffe’s campaign fundraising for the past year, CNN reported on Monday. Government officials are investigating whether donations given to his gubernatorial campaign violated campaign finance laws.
The Justice Department refused to elaborate on the probe's focus.
"As a matter of policy, the department generally neither confirms nor denies whether a matter is under investigation," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr told Time.