Politics & Government

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Says He Will Return Gifts

The governor, at the center of an ethics controversy, told WTOP Radio on Tuesday he will give back thousands of dollars in gifts to Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.

by William Callahan

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday he plans to return thousands of dollars in gifts he and his family received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.

McDonnell made the statement during his monthly show on WTOP Radio, saying he would give back all of the gifts and implying he hadn’t known about some of them.

The gifts from Williams are at the center of an ethics investigation that has been following McDonnell for months.

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Federal and state investigators are looking into Williams’ relationship with the McDonnells after he gave the family tens of thousands of dollars in gifts, including paying for the $15,000 catering bill at McDonnell’s daughter’s wedding.

The gifts coincided with instances of the governor and his wife touting a nutritional supplement made by Williams’ company.

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“Those gifts that I have in my possession, I am working with my counsel to return them," McDonnell told WTOP.

The governor’s statement Tuesday comes a week after he announced he and his family had returned more than $120,000 in loans to Williams – a loan of $50,000 to first lady Maureen McDonnell and a $70,000 loan to the real estate company owned by the governor and his sister.

In addition to the loans and the catering bill, Williams also gave the McDonnells a variety of luxury goods, including a $6,000 Rolex watch for the governor and a $15,000 shopping spree for the first lady. Another $10,000 gift was given to McDonnell’s daughter Jeanine, which he told radio hosts had already been returned.

“Some of them I did not know about at the time,” McDonnell said of the gifts Tuesday, though he didn’t say which ones.

In McDonnell’s announcement last week, released while he was on his way to Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops, he apologized for the controversy and the “embarrassment” it had brought to Virginia.

Listen to full 55-minute interview at WTOP.


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