He can’t, and there’s the rub.
McDonnell and his greedy wife made some terrible choices, but not unlike those made by previous VA governors, including Tim Kaine. What McDonnell did was shady—but legal—under the commonwealth’s then-lax laws on gifts for public officials.
This was a political prosecution, pure and simple. The Dims saw McDonnell as a long-term threat to unseat Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, or even mount a bid for the White House. So, they cobbled together a corruption case, and got the predictable indictment and conviction from a Richmond grand jury and jury, respectively.
A sterling example of how the Dims play politics—pure bloodsport and now quarter given. When they see a GOP pol who is a threat or a potential threat, they pull out all the stops to neutralize them politically and if possible, send them to jail. Look at what happened to Tom DeLay. Ditto for Newt Gingrich. In Newt’s case, his conduct and deals laid the groundwork for getting him out of Congress, and spineless Republicans went right along with the kangaroo court.
The Dims have politicized everything—and I mean everything. That’s one reason I was surprised (and slightly encouraged) by today’s SCOTUS decision. In tossing McDonnell’s conviction, the justices noted that federal prosecutors were trying to criminalize behavior that is part-and-parcel of the political process. Not that Zero and his DOJ will be deterred by today’s decision. Still hundreds of politically-motivated prosecutors looking for more GOP scalps, and plenty of federal judges, juries and appellate judges who will support the witch hunt.
McDonnell was a crook, pure and simple. He lied about the Rolex watch and the loans. For nearly two years, the McDonnells repeatedly asked executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. for loans and gifts of money, clothes, golf fees and equipment, trips, and private plane rides. The gifts and loans totaled at least $165,000.