The former Virginia governor who accepted $177,000 from a local businessman in personal loans and expensive gifts in exchange for political favors said in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday that he would take it all back if he could.
Bob McDonnell appeared on the CBS show three years after he and his wife, Maureen, were indicted on corruption charges. He was found guilty but fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where his conviction was overturned because "setting up a meeting" or "hosting an event" for Jonnie Williams, the businessman, did not constitute a crime.
"If I do it over again, I was governor, I wouldn't take any gifts. I didn't need 'em," McDonnell said.
But he said he did it because "having a family vacation after working 15 hours a day at a nice lake resort with my family, you know, I appreciated that."
McDonnell said he believed at the time that he was governing himself "properly."
"I knew in my heart I was governing myself properly. And I knew I was making all the appropriate disclosures," he said.
Still, after the long court battle and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts calling the case "distasteful" and adding it "may be worse than that," McDonnell says he still feels vindicated.
"At the end of the day, the United States Supreme Court said, that this was the routine stuff that governors do. And we may not like the amount of gifts, but it was consistent with Virginia law and so, Bill, that's why at this point, I feel vindicated," he said.
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