McDonnell Corruption Trial Focuses on 'Broken Down' Marriage

The corruption trial of former Virginia governor, Robert F. McDonnell and his wife Maureen, revealed details Tuesday of the first lady’s “crush” on the case’s star witness, a businessman accused of lavishing the couple with hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts.

The McDonnells face a 14-count public corruption indictment that accuses the couple of accepting more than $165,000 in loans, designer clothes, vacations and other gifts from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., a wealthy Richmond-area businessman and owner of struggling dietary supplement company Star Scientific. The McDonnells allegedly asked Williams for loans and gifts of money, clothes, golf tees and equipment, trips, and private plane rides, the Washington Post reports.

In exchange, Williams Sr. was allegedly granted access to top state officials, a dinner and seminar aimed at persuading doctors to recommend his company’s product, and permission use the Executive Mansion for a launch party of a company pill the Food and Drug Administration had not approved.

Prosecutors must prove the former governor and first lady performed or promised to perform “official” acts for Williams in exchange for his largesse while intending to defraud Virginia voters of their honest services, The Post reports. If convicted, the McDonnells could face decades in prison.

Maureen McDonnell’s lawyer, William A. Burck, told jurors in his opening statement that the former first lady had romantic feelings for Williams, the prosecution’s’ star witness. Burck said Williams filled a “void” in McDonnell’s life and that her marriage had “broken down” long ago, The Associated Press reports.

“They were barely on speaking terms,” Burck said of the McDonnells. “...Maureen immediately gravitated toward Jonnie… He showered her with attention she craved.”

Burck added that Maureen and Williams frequently exchanged text messages and phone calls in a relationship that “some people would consider inappropriate,” noting that one potential witness may describe Williams as McDonnell’s “favorite playmate.” Burck did not specify if the relationship was physical in nature.

The former governor’s defense attorney, John Brownlee, said Maureen McDonnell’s anger and resentment stemmed from the long hours her husband spent at work.

“She hated him for not being around, for serving the public night and day and not having anything left for her,” Brownlee said, adding that the situation allowed Williams to “invade and poison their marriage.”

Brownlee accused Williams of being a “master manipulator,” alleging that the businessman deceived both the McDonnells and the Virginia government to receive immunity, the Associated Press reports. Burck alleged that Williams might have sold upward of $10 million worth of Star Scientific shares to a friend in secret.

Brownlee said the government went to excessive lengths to prove McDonnell’s guilt, going so far as to send investigators to interview former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, and “came up empty,” according to The Associated Press.