WASHINGTON 鈥� Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he did nothing wrong when he asked a top Homeland Security official to help his former electric car company with visa applications two years ago.
An inspector general鈥檚 report, and a response from the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, detail a face-to-face meeting between McAuliffe and Mayorkas and expletive-filled phone calls.
McAuliffe said in an interview Thursday with WRVA-AM in Richmond that even though he is well connected, and was working with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton鈥檚 brother on the electric car project, he was a private citizen at the time.
鈥淭his guy took calls from everybody. Let鈥檚 be clear, I never knew the guy beforehand. Everybody called him. Senators, governors,鈥� McAuliffe told the station.
McAuliffe was looking to speed up the decision-making process on special investor visas through a program called EB-5, which are usually supposed to be decided within months, not years.
鈥淚 was angrier than heck at all these people,鈥� McAuliffe said.
Mayorkas wrote an email at the time that indicated he only met with McAuliffe because he was told to, and was in 鈥渓isten only mode.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 a private business man, I鈥檓 (not) an elected official. Just as I do as governor 鈥� I pick up the phone and I raise heck,鈥� McAuliffe said of his interactions with Mayorkas.
At a House committee said he did not find any evidence that laws were broken in McAuliffe鈥檚 case, or two others including one effort tied to powerful democrats Sen. Harry Reid and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
But Roth s that found internal policies were broken, and that there was a clear appearance of favoritism.
鈥淪taff perceived that the influence was the result of politically connected people, I don鈥檛 think there was a lot of conversation about some sort of party affiliation,鈥� Roth told the committee.
In the case connected to McAuliffe, Mayorkas intervened to change a report rejecting a request in a way that enabled the company to apply again. That second application was accepted.
鈥淢r. Mayorkas intervened in a way that he had never done before, by asking to see the draft opinion, by commenting on the draft opinion, and having influence into how that draft opinion ultimately was decided,鈥� Roth said.
Roth says all of the steps created an appearance of special access, and the several cases triggered a number of whistleblowers across the country to contact the inspector general鈥檚 office with concerns.
Questions about McAuliffe鈥檚 involvement in the visa requests were a focus of attacks during his successful campaign for governor.
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee pressed Roth to see if powerful Republicans had made similar requests, but Roth said he did not have that information.
