The FBI probe into Bernie Sanders' wife started with hearsay information to the agency by a Republican Vermont state representative, two Vermont news outlets reported last week.
Jane O'Meara Sanders is under investigation related to a loan for Burlington College, where she served as president. Vermont House Minority Leader Don Turner told Seven Day and WCAX-TV that friends at the bank claimed that her husband pressured the institute to approve it.
Turner said, though, that his friends did not have direct knowledge of the loan negotiations and said that his conversation with those friends were "casual," stated the media publications.
"There's no way I'd file a complaint or anything like that," Turner told Seven Day, describing the information as "hearsay."
WCAX-TV and Seven Day said that Turner was the source of allegations Republican attorney Brady Toesnsing brought to the FBI in an early 2016 letter.
Seven Day reported that Turner's comments did not contradict another allegation that O'Meara Sanders committed federal loan fraud by overstating fundraising commitments to the now defunct Burlington College when it applying to People's United Bank for a $6.5 million loan in 2010.
The weekly publication stated that no evidence has come to light that Sanders, a U.S. senator and former Democratic presidential candidate, is part of that investigation.
Toesnsing first wrote the FBI about O'Meara Sanders' connection with the Burlington College loan and then followed up with a second letter claiming that her husband used his political muscle to push the loan through, WCAX-TV said.
Toensing, who chaired President Donald Trump's campaign in Vermont, told the television station that he stands behind his complaint.
He told Fox News's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" this week that O'Meara Sanders applied for the loan to purchase property from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
"In order to get those loans, she had to confirm guaranteed donations of $2.6 million," Toensing said, reported Fox News. "Of that $2.6 million, the school was only able to collect about 25 percent ... and of the confirmed donations, three of the donors have come forward to say that the school overstated their pledge amounts."
Sanders left the college the following year and Burlington College closed in May, 2016, reported Fox News.
Bernie Sanders called the investigation into his wife all about politics, reported CNN.
"I think it's fairly pathetic that when people are involved in public life, it's not only that they get attacked, but it's their wives and their families that get attacked," Sanders said, noted CNN.
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