The Governor insists that he’s going to serve out his term, no matter what:
“I’m going to be governor of Virginia for another 4½ months,” McDonnell told reporters before listing several current initiatives of his administration, including preparing a budget, advancing regulatory reform and helping former prisoners reenter society. “That’s my focus, as it has been for the past 31 /2 years.”
Seems fairly definitive. It comes after his legal team met with federal prosecutors earlier in the week:
McDonnell’s legal team spent nearly two hours Monday with federal prosecutors in Alexandria, hoping to head off charges against him related to thousands of dollars in gifts and loans from Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. A separate team representing first lady Maureen McDonnell also met with prosecutors. Afterward, people familiar with the meetings said prosecutors were still weighing their options.
Perhaps McDonnell’s team made some headway on the indictment front. We have no way of knowing, aside from what we read into the line about prosecutors “still weighing their options.”
My reading says they don’t have a case they think they can win. At least not now. The mere possibility of an indictment has already done substantial damage to McDonnell as a political commodity and, if the most recent Quinnipiac poll’s conclusions are correct, his travails are weighing on the GOP ticket as well.
In a discussion last night with a lawyer friend, we gamed-out how McDonnell’s case might go. The feds may have laid out their case and given McDonnell options. If he wants to fight, they’ll fight. But if he wants to avoid a legal battle that will break him financially, here’s a deal. My conclusion was McDonnell thinks he can win — in court, if not in public opinion. He’s calling their bluff.
