"She said to me, 'I have a background in nutritional supplements, and I can be helpful to you with this project with your company," Jonnie Williams testified, describing a private meeting with Maureen McDonnell in the governor's mansion in May 2011. "'The governor says it's okay for me to help you, but I need you to help me with this financial situation.'"
Williams provided riveting testimony for more than an hour during the third day of a trial that already has made a dramatic spectacle of the couple that occupied the Virginia governor's mansion just seven months ago. Williams described how he lavished Maureen McDonnell, in particular, with cash and high-end clothing, and of how the Virginia first lady seemed to push the boundaries of his generosity.
Williams, who is scheduled to take the stand again Thursday, began to outline his grand plan of advancing his company's dietary supplements by using the "credibility" of the governor's office and convincing the governor to spur state research of his wares.
"I know that [the governor] controls the medical schools, so I needed his help with the testing of this," Williams testified.
Williams, 60, who has made no public statements in the 16 months since his relationship with the McDonnells first burst in public view, arrived at the courthouse in the mid-afternoon, reporters trailing him. He wore a dark business suit and his hair was flecked with considerably more gray than in the few photos of him that have surfaced since the scandal broke.
Williams acknowledged that even when he promised to give Maureen McDonnell $65,000 — a $50,000 loan and another $15,000 to help pay for her daughter's wedding — he did so even without a pledge that her husband would assist him.
The governor's wife, Williams testified, had confided in him that she and her husband had discussed filing for bankruptcy because of mounting credit card debt and struggling real estate investments. He said that he insisted on talking with the governor himself about the money, but even then, he did not try to convey that his generosity came with strings attached.
"He's the bread winner in the house, and I'm not writing his wife checks without him knowing about it," Williams said. He said the governor thanked him for the gift.
Defense attorneys have asserted that Williams was a "master manipulator" who is testifying only because he received immunity from potential criminal charges. They have said Maureen McDonnell had a "crush" on Williams, and she and her husband's marital woes ran so deep that they barely spoke. That would dramatically undercut the notion that they conspired together to sell the governor's office in exchange for gifts and cash — which is the essence of the 14 public corruption and related charges against them.
Williams — who spoke enthusiastically about his product, sharing the personal story of how he believes his pills cured his wife's pre-cancerous thyroid condition — also spoke of flying Virginia politicians around on his private jet in an effort to make his company, Star Scientific, successful.
"I think it's become common practice if you're a Virginia company, you want to make sure you have access to those people, and the airplane accomplishes that," he said.
Williams described in detail an April 2011 New York City shopping trip during which he said he, Maureen McDonnelland her chief of staff ventured to high-end boutiques including Bergdorf-Goodman, Oscar de la Renta and Louis Vuitton.
By Williams' account, Maureen McDonnell intended to buy only two dresses, but instead ran up a $20,000 tab that he covered. She left with a full-length white leather coat, a pair of shoes, a raincoat and a dress.
"It went on for hours," Williams said.
Williams' appearance on the stand capped a day of testimony that included the range of gifts Williams gave to the governor and first lady, and also to their adult children.
One of the McDonnells' twin 22-year old sons, Robert "Bobby" Ryan McDonnell, testified that after Williams noticed his old and well-worn golf clubs during a round the two played together in 2011, Williams called and said he was sending a present to the governor's mansion. There, Bobby McDonnell found a new set of golf clubs in a bag with the University of Virginia logo on it, along with a pair of golf shoes.
The McDonnells' son also testified about the now-infamous Rolex watch, which prosecutors allege Williams purchased in August 2011 at Maureen McDonnell's request and was engraved with the words "71st Governor of Virginia." He said his mother gave the watch to his father for Christmas.
Bobby McDonnell said his own reaction was to assume the watch was a fake because it "ticked" rather than "rolled." His said his father — having already received a Seiko from Maureen McDonnell — thought simply: "Another watch?"
Throughout his testimony, though, Bobby McDonnell pushed back against the idea that his father was inappropriately accepting gifts from Williams, or encouraging his sons to do so. Bobby McDonnell said his father thought the clubs were "excessive," but he kept them anyway. He also said the governor convinced him not to accept an internship Williams offered him.
The manager of an exclusive golf course outside of Richmond, where dues are $11,000 annually, testified that McDonnell and his sons played repeatedly on Williams' tab in 2011 and 2012, each time racking up hundreds of dollars in golf and caddy fees, food and pro shop purchases. Only once did Williams golf with the governor; sometimes, McDonnell's sons played without either their father or the businessman, according to testimony.
Williams' onetime personal assistant, Jerri Fulkerson, testified of the extensive private plane and vacation arrangements for all seven of the McDonnells' children.
There was a family vacation for the McDonnells to Williams' Smith Mountain Lake vacation home in July 2011. (Fulkerson testified that a Star Scientific employee drove Williams' Ferrari to the home for the governor's use and then got another ride back to Richmond.) There was a vacation for the governor and his wife at the exclusive Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod during Labor Day weekend 2012 — along with dinners, golf games, a day of yachting and spa treatments.
Fulkerson testified that during that same weekend she made arrangements for the McDonnells' 25-year-old daughter Rachel to fly to Florida with a friend. The two stayed at Williams's condo and Fulkerson arranged flights, passes to the Ritz Carlton Beach Club and a yacht outing.
Fulkerson acknowledged that Williams made his plane available to a number of other politicians — including former attorneys general Jerry Kilgore and Ken Cuccinelli and presidential candidate Mitt Romney — but said the McDonnells were an unusual case.
In one instance, for example, Maureen McDonnell's chief of staff asked for Williams' private jet to fly three of the governor's children to the Homestead resort in western Virginia for an annual political event for the governor, according to an email Fulkerson read aloud. The chief of staff indicated in the email that the plane should pick the governor's two twin sons up in Richmond, then fly to Virginia Beach to pick up his eldest daughter, then fly on to the resort, Fulkerson said.
Ultimately, the eldest daughter also flew out of Richmond. But Fulkerson noted the chief of staff's odd request.
"Can you recall any other time when a politician asked for the use of Mr. Williams' plane to transport their children over a space of a one and a half hour drive?" federal prosecutor David Harbach asked Fulkerson.
"No," she responded.
"Do you recall a time any other politician asked for the use of Mr. Williams's plane to fly their children at all?" he continued.
"No," she answered.
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Washington Post staff writers Justin Jouvenal and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
