Businessman Says Former Virginia Governor's Wife Sought Money

RICHMOND, Va. - The wealthy businessman at the heart of the government's case alleging that former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife used his office to enrich themselves took the stand on Wednesday and began describing how he provided the couple with a river of cash and gifts.

Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the star witness in the corruption trial of Mr. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, testified that at a meeting at the Executive Mansion late one evening in May 2011, Ms. McDonnell told him that she and the governor were so financially desperate they were considering filing for bankruptcy. She asked for $65,000 in exchange for helping his company, Mr. Williams testified.

Mr. Williams said he was told by Ms. McDonnell, 'The governor says it's O.K. for me to help you, but I need you to help me with this financial situation.'

Mr. Williams, who was trying to persuade the state health authorities to back an untested nutritional product of his, said he agreed to the first lady's request but wanted to speak directly with the governor.

He said that he told the governor, 'I'm willing to help' and that the governor replied, 'Thank you.'

Asked whether the $65,000 was motivated by friendship, Mr. Williams, who paid himself $1 million in base salary as head of a company that had no profits, told a jury in federal court here that it was a 'business transaction' with the governor. He explained, 'I needed the credibility that comes with that office.'

The McDonnells are charged with conspiring to illegally use the power of the governor's office in exchange for more than $165,000 in cash and luxury goods from Mr. Williams. Jurors will have to weigh Mr. Williams's account against the fact that he is testifying under a guarantee that his cooperation will exempt him from prosecution. And they will have to view the couple's actions in light of a defense outlined in opening arguments Tuesday that will try to make the case that the couple's marriage was so damaged that they did not communicate enough to be part of any conspiracy.

Mr. Williams, who has said nothing in public since the McDonnell scandal broke over a year ago, jolted the courtroom with his unexpected appearance in the last 90 minutes of the day. He described only a few episodes of his long relationship with the former first couple, including a New York shopping spree for Ms. McDonnell. Defense lawyers have not yet subjected his account to cross-examination.

In his telling, a dance of mutual exploitation began with his Learjet. Mr. McDonnell, whom he did not know, asked to use it in March 2009 for a flight to Roanoke while campaigning for governor, which Mr. Williams said was a common request from politicians. He also lent his jet to the former Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney.

'A lot of people have jets here in Virginia,' Mr. Williams said. 'If you're a Virginia company, you want to make sure you have access' to elected officials, 'the airplane allows you to accomplish that.'

Another time, after Mr. McDonnell borrowed the jet to fly to California, Mr. Williams said he bought his own ticket on a commercial airline to fly across the country and join the governor for the flight home.

'I figured that would give me five to six hours with the governor,' he said. He asked for his help meeting officials in state government to help his company.

Mr. McDonnell's defense team, in its opening statement, argued that he did nothing more to benefit Mr. Williams's company, Star Scientific, than he would have done for any other Virginia business, and he accuses prosecutors of trying to turn an elected official's response to a constituent into a felony.

For her part, Ms. McDonnell's lawyers are arguing that she did not take the gifts and loans from Mr. Williams as part of a quid pro quo. She became infatuated with the rich, brash businessman as her marriage crumbled, and his presents filled a craving in her for attention.

But Mr. Williams's testimony portrayed the former first lady as acting out of greed and willing to trade on her husband's office. Describing a shopping trip in New York City he treated Ms. McDonnell to in April 2011, Mr. Williams told how an earlier offer to buy her a gown for her husband's inauguration was vetoed by the governor's office. 'I'll take a rain check,' he quoted Ms. McDonnell as telling him. Then, a year later, she invited him to a political event at the Union League Club in New York, promising to seat him next to the governor. And she added, he said, 'We can go shopping now.'

He described a day that began with their having lunch at Bergdorf Goodman, then a visit to the Oscar de la Renta showroom and a Louis Vuitton store, and a return to Bergdorf. He paid for dresses, a full-length white leather coat and a Louis Vuitton handbag. A dress from Bergdorf 'was tailored and didn't work, so I called back the store and purchased another for her,' he said.

'She was happy,' he added.

Earlier in testimony Wednesday, one of the McDonnells' sons, Robert Ryan McDonnell, described a relationship Mr. Williams had cultivated with him, calling it a 'mentor-mentee' bond. The younger Mr. McDonnell, now a graduate student, said that because he had been around politicians all his life, he was comfortable 'interacting with people two or three times my age.'

After he and Mr. Williams shot a round of golf at the Homestead Resort in West Virginia during a political retreat, he recalled Mr. Williams calling a few days later and saying, 'There's a present waiting for you at your house.'

When he returned to the Executive Mansion, he found a new University of Virginia golf bag and set of Callaway clubs, and two pairs of golf shoes.

His father said the gift was excessive and should be returned. But the younger Mr. McDonnell, an undergraduate at the time, wanted to keep them. An argument ensued, with his mother weighing in on his side. 'I was excited about the clubs,' he said. 'I thought they were a gift to me.'

He kept them.