Federal prosecutors told Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell last week that he and his wife would be charged in connection with a gift scandal, but senior Justice Department officials delayed the decision after the McDonnells’ attorneys made a face-to-face appeal in Washington, according to people familiar with the case.
Dana J. Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, told the McDonnells’ legal teams that he planned to ask a grand jury to return an indictment no later than this past Monday, people familiar with the conversations said.
McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen, would have been charged with working together to illegally promote a struggling dietary-supplement company in exchange for gifts and loans from its chief executive, the people said.
The plan to seek the felony charges this week changed, however, after attorneys for the state’s first couple met with Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole on Dec. 12.
The attorneys argued that the governor had done nothing improper to assist businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. In particular, they focused on the credibility of a key witness, said a person familiar with the presentation. They also argued that if prosecutors proceeded with charges, they should wait until after McDonnell left office Jan. 11 to allow a smooth transition of power to Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe (D).
Some element of the lawyers’ arguments apparently persuaded the Justice Department to delay, according to people with knowledge of the case. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
On Friday, the day after the meeting, McDonnell’s attorneys were told that the decision would be put on hold, the people said. A final decision about whether to press charges is now not expected before Jan. 2 and could come as late as February, they said.
Enough. Governor McDonnell may be guilty of poor judgement but having poor judgement isn’t illegal. Frankly, Virginia’s ethics laws for elected officials are so lax I seriously doubt if McDonnell has broken any laws at all. This situation needs to be fixed by the Virginia legislature.
Let’s slap the McDonnells on the wrist (her a little harder than him for being such a ninny) and let them wander on off into the sunset without embarrassing Virginia any further. I don’t want them prosecuted. The moral of the story is not to piss off your chef. There also might be an aside about nothing dealing with tobacco really has any medicinal value also.
I disagree. They should be arrested and prosecuted. No one is above the law. His wife should not have been stealing food from the pantry. If she was hungry, she should have bought her own food.
I might also if I could figure out what laws they broke. We can’t prosecute people if they haven
t broken the law. I think it is Virginia ethic laws that are at fault.
It is a shame that under our current law in VA, a sitting governor can accept gifts of over $150,000 (plus a similar amount to McDonnell’s PAC) – ‘forget’ to report and then still say that everything is ok.
Golf outings, shopping spree, free use of lake house, free use of rental home, cash, gifts to kids, watches, cash to business (oh, it was a loan), etc. And then report after the fact and say with a straight face – there was no quid pro quo….. Really. And the Cooch forget to report from the very same person…. hmm. McDonnell should have known better and has forever tainted his own name with this stupidity. What was he thinking when the cash came into his rental business? Where is the loan agreement?
Why did the PAC buy clothing for the First Lady? Really – they need to get PAC money for clothing? From the PAC? Really – talk about a legal loop hole to funnel money to people for any use.
The most corrupt family in the history of the Commonwealth. Oahu can’ she buy her own clothes?
I hate auto correct.
It’s nice to be powerful even if it is only temporary.