McDonnells convicted of corruption
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of corruption and other charges Thursday at the end of a dramatic trial that pitted the couple against each other and effectively brought down a Republican once viewed as presidential material. The couple both cried as the “guiltys” were read in the federal courthouse in Richmond.
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Bob McDonnell trial verdict - POLITICO.com
This is so often how politicians fall — in scandals over four-digit and five-digit sums of money, even as their jobs give them control over sums many orders of magnitude larger. In this case, the sheer smallness of everything has become a distraction. For instance, there are enough photos of Bob McDonnell driving Jonnie Williams’ Ferrari to make a flipbook-style GIF. There are photos of him posing with the Rolex. But run through the photos on your phone. Examine the contents of your heart: Would you really resist the photos? There’s also the light-yourself-on-fire email from McDonnell to his wife. “You told me again yesterday that you would wreck my things and how bad I am. It hurt me to my core.” But read through every email and text you’ve ever sent. Have you ever looked at your Facebook search history? The McDonnells turned out to be people who wanted to drive three hours in a Ferrari. They were panicked and greedy in small, familiar, stupid ways.
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The Ordinary, Insane McDonnell Meltdown
