McDonnells Guilty!

Former VA Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty of corruption stemming from more than $170,000 in gifts and loans they got from snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams of Star Scientific.

He was found guilty on 11 counts, she on 9.  Sentencing is set for January 6, 2015.  They plan to appeal their convictions.

I guess the jury didn’t buy their BS claim that they couldn’t have conspired because their marriage was dead and they were barely speaking, a defense stolen from an old episode of L. A. Law. 

Recall that McDonnell rejected a plea bargain where he would have pled guilty to a single felony count and she would not have been charged with anything.

McDonnells Show Great Judgment — In Choosing Their Lawyers

“This wasn’t about a disintegrating marriage and an emotional, needy wife. This was a family of people who presented themselves as a shining example of all that is moral and righteous. And once Virginians trusted that they were good people and put McDonnell in office, the entire family allegedly sold off what the people of Virginia had given them — the public trust.

“All the lovesick melodrama that the first lady had a crush on [Jonnie] Williams and all the gifts and cash were about the attention has likely been manufactured by the defense lawyers. Maybe they have some evidence to back up this storyline. But when this scandal began, Bob and Maureen McDonnell showed up in court holding hands, presenting themselves as a solid, Christian couple.

“Now they are changing that narrative, walking in and out of court in separate entourages, riding different elevators, brushing past each other without even making eye contact. The staging in court borders on ridiculous. They are doing nothing more than selling Virginians another tale.”

Petula Dvorak, “Here’s Jonnie:  Cue the rapt gaze from former Va. first lady Maureen McDonnell,” WaPo

The defense is total BS, but very clever.  Whatever the McDonnells are paying their lawyers, they deserve more!

Mitt Can’t Afford a Plane Ticket?

During testimony at the corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen today, it came out that Mitt Romney and John McCain also took free rides on snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams’ private plane.

Is McDonnell Corruption Case Now a Sex Scandal Too?

Former VA Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen are on trial for corruption in connection with over $165,000 in gifts and loans they got from Jonnie Williams, the head of snake oil company Star Scientific.  The guy was selling “health supplements” made from tobacco!

Now Maureen’s lawyer is claiming that Maureen had romantic feelings for Williams and that her marriage had “broken down” to the point that she and the Governor were “barely on speaking terms.”

Sounds as if Governor Ultrasound wasn’t sharing his wand with his wife anymore, and she was looking elsewhere.

How Stupid is Bob McDonnell?

Former GOP Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, under federal indictment along with his wife on 14 counts of corruption, rejected a plea deal that would have allowed him to plead guilty to a single count for bank fraud.  His wife would not have faced any charges.

The single count would have been for failing to disclose the loans from Star Scientific’s Jonny Williams on a mortgage re-fi application.

Dumb move, Bob.

McDonnell Indicted

We interrupt your enjoyment of Bridgegate to inform you that former GOP Virginia Gov. Bob “Ultrasound” McDonnell and his wife Maureen have been indicted on 14 counts of corruption stemming from the illegal gifts and loans they received from Jonnie Williams, snake oil purveyor par excellence.

McDonnell says the indictment is an “unjust overreach of the federal government.”  A little ironic, coming from the guy who “overreached” into Virginia vaginas with his legally mandatory, medically unnecessary ultrasounds for those seeking to exercise their abortion rights.

The McDonnells will be arraigned Friday in Richmond.   Good times, people.

This Is Weird

The U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil McBride, is resigning as of 9/13.  McBride is leading the high-profile investigation of  GOP Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen over their receipt of gifts and loans from snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams, whose company, Star Scientific, the McDonnells helped promote.

Williams has been cooperating in the investigation in return for not getting in trouble himself for his latest scam, a tobacco-based health supplement (great oxymoron).  Williams has been in trouble with the law before for previous shady companies.  You’d think McDonnell or one of his aides might have done a quick Google before getting in bed with this guy, but either they didn’t know his history or didn’t care because of the $.

McDonnell and his wife have separate lawyers (which is very interesting in itself), and those lawyers met with prosecutors this week.  It’s believed that a decision on prosecution will come soon.

McDonnell should resign, not McBride.

Bob McDonnell Blames His Wife’s Office

Greedy, sleazy, soon-to-be-ex-governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell is trying to blame his wife‘s office for his corruption scandal.  In a radio interview today, he said there’s a “misconception” about his relationship with snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams, founder of Star Scientific, which is being investigated by the Feds.  Williams lavished McDonnell and his wife with six figures worth of “loans” and gifts.  McDonnell said the event at the Governor’s Mansion launching Star Scientific’s tobacco-based health supplement (now there’s an oxymoron for you) was organized by his wife’s office.  Like Sgt. Schultz, McDonnell claims, “I know nothing, nothing.”

Hey, Bobby, look at that Rolex your friend Jonnie gave you.  It’s telling you it’s time to resign.

Yes, I’m Enjoying This Tremendously

From “Bob McDonnell’s stunning fall from grace,” Alexander Burns, Politico:

“In 2010, the political world pegged Bob McDonnell as a president in the making. Last year, they put him on every VP list. As recently as May, they called the popular Virginia governor a political model for his would-be successors in Richmond, Democrat and Republican alike.

“And now – well, now nobody’s sure what to call Bob McDonnell.

“Suddenly under legal and political siege, McDonnell is the subject of one of the swiftest downfalls in recent memory: once known as a spotlessly clean, law-and-order politician, the governor stands accused of questionable financial dealings that range from the tacky to the jaw-dropping.

 

 

“The McDonnell saga has gripped Richmond – and increasingly Washington – as a cascade of embarrassing disclosures have buffeted the governor and his wife, Maureen. A series of Washington Post stories have documented their cozy relationship with a donor, Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, who gave financial gifts to the McDonnell family including a cumulative $120,000 in the form of a check to Maureen McDonnell and a cash infusion to a family company.

 

“With a federal investigation well underway, downcast McDonnell allies say they see little hope that the governor’s reputation will recover, and some privately express doubt that he’ll be able to serve out his term. They describe a pervasive mood of shock and gloom throughout the governor’s extended political family.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/bob-mcdonnell-fall-from-grace-94061.html#ixzz2YqyvkJrt

Shock and gloom.  That’s what women feel when they are forced to suffer unnecessary ultrasounds imposed by their shamelessly corrupt governor.