Steven Spielberg Featured in Former Va. Gov. Corruption Trial

The federal corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen dropped a bombshell Wednesday when a VCU cardiologist testified the former first lady introduced him to director Steven Spielberg in an attempt to sway the doctor into conducting drug research.

The McDonnells are charged in a 14-count indictment of conspiring to trade the prestige of the Governor’s Mansion to a wealthy Richmond-area businessman in exchange for more than $165,000 in luxury gifts, vacations and loans.

Dr. George Vetrovec, a Virginia Commonwealth University cardiologist, testified Tuesday that former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams tried to persuade the doctor to research his company’s new dietary supplement, Anatabloc, in Oct. 2011. Vetrovec said Williams met him at the school to discuss a possible study when he invited the doctor to the Governor’s Mansion, WJLA reports.

Williams said that “the governor’s wife makes really good cookies and we’re going over there,” Vetrovec testified.

What Williams failed to mention was that a reception was being held at the Executive Mansion to honor Steven Spielberg for filming the movie “Lincoln” in the Richmond area. When they arrived at the mansion, Maureen McDonnell took the doctor to the front of a line waiting to meet Spielberg and introduced Vetrovec to the filmmaker at Williams’ request, the doctor testified.

“This is the most unusual event you can imagine,” Vetrovec said during his testimony. “You just never know what’s going to happen every day when you get up.”

When Bob McDonnell’s attorney, Henry Asbill, asked if the doctor thought Williams was trying to impress him, Vetrovec said, “I guess so.”

Star Scientific never informed Vetrovec how the company planned to fund the suggested research, the doctor testified, though Williams reportedly wanted funding to come from a state tobacco commission for either Virginia Commonwealth University or the University of Virginia. The commission never received an application and neither university committed to the project, WJLA reports.