Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) took a victory lap days after the Justice Department announced it was dropping corruption charges against him, saying Monday that he was “delighted to finally be vindicated and free.”
“The government portrayed a false narrative. There was no quid pro quo,” McDonnell told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.
U.S. Attorney Dana Boente’s office said Thursday that federal prosecutors had decided not to pursue a new trial against McDonnell, after the Supreme Court this summer overturned the previous corruption convictions against McDonnell.
McDonnell’s interview with Fox News was one of the lengthier exchanges he has had with the press since being swept up in the corruption allegations.
The former governor said it had been “a grueling three and a half years,” but he now has a “a great second chance to start doing some things in the private sector” for charitable organizations.
“This decision by the court and the Justice Department to end the prosecution, Neil gives us a new lease on life,” McDonnell said, referring to his wife Maureen McDonnell, who also was facing corruption charges.
“There’s a lot of work to do to rebuild the relationship and hopefully have people remember the good work my team did as governor and not this latest case,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell’s case had ultimately been appealed to the Supreme Court after a district court jury found him guilty of eleven corruption charges related to allegations that he and his wife had accepted $175,000 in gifts and loans from a wealthy Virginia businessman. He was accused of accepting the gifts in exchange for promoting the dietary supplements sold by the businessman, Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in June that the jury had been operating under too broad of a definition of an “official act” made illegal by anti-corruption law, and thus threw out the convictions.
“Some of the decisions I made created an impression that many people have about politicians anyway, and that is that the receive things, they use their offices for improper purposes, and I knew in the bottom of my heart that wasn’t accurate,” McDonnell said Monday.
