Answer? Yes… and Justin Higgins at JHPolitics very helpfully obtained the audi0 from the WTOP interview:
The Richmond Times Dispatch had a bit more to add to what ended as a rather testy interview on “Ask the Governor” this morning:
Last week, on the eve of a trip to Afghanistan, the governor issued a statement in which he apologized for the “embarrassment” that the first family has brought to the state.
McDonnell said today that his daughter, Jeanine, already has returned a $10,000 gift from Williams.
The governor also said he did not borrow funds from anyone when he previously repaid $120,000 in loans from Williams.
Sadly, the controversy doesn’t end here. The UK Daily Mail has now taken the McDonnell gifts scandal to international waters, and was not kind at all about dragging Virginia through the mud:
Gov Robert F. McDonnell’s wife’s alleged spending is legal under the state’s lax campaign finance laws but the amount in which she spent and the fact they were recorded only under ‘travel or event expenses’ has been highly criticized.
Virginia’s campaign finance laws allow political funds to be used for private use while the PAC is still operating, it is only illegal once it disbands.
…and all this dovetails into the price tag to taxpayers to defend these lavish spending habits out of the Governor’s Mansion? $53,000 as of the end of June — before Bearing Drift broke the dam open with rumors of the governor’s resignation:
Troy’s firm sent two invoices to the governor’s office, one regarding “OG-RFM” for $29,252 and the other regarding “RFMG” for $24,278. Details on the invoices, obtained through the governor’s office by an open records request, were redacted in part.
$53,000 to defend someone against something where everything was — according to the party line as of today — legal… and above board.
Strike anyone as counter-intuitive? Yeah… join the rest of us.
