Need a refresher course on Bob McDonnell’s excellent adventures? Here you go: Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of government money, facilities, power for personal enrichment of friends”! That post was all about who paid for his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion and questions about a possible (read: probable) quid pro quo. The FBI is investigating the relationship between the Virginia governor, his wife, and a major campaign donor.
WaPo:
FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.
The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said.
Williams’ gifts to McDonnell and to state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, both Republicans, have come under growing scrutiny in the past two months. It intensified after the Executive Mansion chef was charged with stealing food from the mansion and alleged that his prosecution by Cuccinelli was politically motivated.
Oy.
The plot sickens. The Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting that a McDonnell Cabinet member is also disclosing gifts that she received from Jonnie Williams:
When Gov. Bob McDonnell traveled to South Carolina in January 2012 to endorse GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Secretary of the Commonwealth Janet Vestal Kelly flew there separately.
Kelly also flew to Tampa, Fla., separately from the governor in August for the Republican National Convention.
Both of the Cabinet official’s trips were provided by Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie R. Williams Sr., whose gifts to McDonnell, the governor’s family and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have come under public scrutiny in the past five weeks.
Kelly’s little travel gifts came to about $2,400. We know that because she says she is making an “effort to be as transparent as possible.”
McDonnell has declined to reveal any other gifts made to members of his family, citing an exemption in Virginia disclosure laws that he says he is “open” to closing.
He’s open to closing, says he. He’s pretty close to opening his own closing if there is any justice left in this world. Actually, if there is any justice left in this world, he’d not only be forced to undergo a criminal probe, but also a medical one.
The Times Dispatch has all the gory details.
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