Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2013/08/the-messy-facts-in-virginia/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 10:15:34+00:00

Document:
It's an ugly gubernatorial race in the state, yet many of the harsh attacks are accurate.
The Virginia governor’s race is breaking our general expectations as fact-checkers: There’s strident attack galore, but much of it is accurate.
We normally find the harsher the attack, the more likely it’s false. So much for that. Instead of a fact-checking field day in this race, we find the accusations in ads from each side are generally on target, or so close to being so that we find only minor quibbles.
So, we’ll simply explain the attacks and mini-scandals plaguing both candidates — noting when campaign ads have gone a bit too far or pushed false implications.
Ads from the Republican Governors Association point out, correctly, that Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s electric-car company proposed to build a huge plant in China and not in Virginia. It’s the case, as another RGA ad says, that GreenTech’s financing is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission — and the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. McAuliffe says he wasn’t responsible for that part of company business.
Several McAuliffe ads say Attorney General Cuccinelli’s office is under investigation for “helping” an energy company that’s being sued by Virginia landowners who say they’re owed gas royalties. Plus, the ads say, Cuccinelli has receive more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from that company. Both statements are factual. Another McAuliffe ad highlights Cuccinelli’s 2010 legal case against a climate change scientist whose findings Cuccinelli disputed. That caused the University of Virginia to spend $600,000 defending the case, which Cuccinelli lost.
Another McAuliffe ad attacks the attorney general’s ties to businessman Jonnie R. Williams, whose gift-giving has put Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife under federal investigation. It’s the case, as the ad says, that Cuccinelli has said he can’t return the gifts, or repay their value, to Williams.
As you might expect, there are some exaggerations, spin and inaccuracies. One ad from a group supporting McAuliffe incorrectly claims that Cuccinelli is being investigated by the state’s inspector general, when in fact the target is one of Cuccinelli’s assistants. And the Republican attacks on the big China plant that McAuliffe once promoted fail to mention that it was never built. Construction was halted when Chinese government funding dried up.
But overall, neither side has had to strain the facts all that much to make their assaults.
We’ll start with a string of Republican ads attacking McAuliffe, and then chronicle a slew of McAuliffe ads going after his GOP opponent, Cuccinelli.
Announcer: Terry McAuliffe built his factory in China. Why not Virginia?
Announcer: Virginia smelled a rat.
State officials under Democrat Governor Kaine likened McAuliffe’s factory financing to a visa-for-sale scheme, with potential national security implications, now federal investigations.
Using political connections for preferential treatment?
Selling visas to wealthy Chinese investors?
Terry McAuliffe. A bad deal for Virginia.
An earlier RGA attack ad (released July 23) said McAuliffe is “betting on China, not Virginia” to create jobs.
Announcer: But instead of creating jobs in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe is betting on China.
Announcer: Can you trust Terry McAuliffe?
Announcer: You just can’t trust Terry McAuliffe.
So what are the facts? It’s the case that McAuliffe has so far failed to deliver on his promises that the electric-car venture he helped launch three years ago would create thousands of jobs. But of the roughly 95 to 100 people it does employ, only five are in China. The huge Chinese factory that McAuliffe once bragged of has been shelved indefinitely.
It’s also accurate, as the most recent ad states, that the company’s financing is under federal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. No official charges or accusations of wrongdoing have surfaced yet.
The company is GreenTech Automotive, which produces a two-passenger “Neighborhood Electric Vehicle” originally made in China by EuAuto Technology Limited before McAuliffe and his partners acquired the Hong Kong-based firm in May 2010. GreenTech calls it “MyCar.” In the U.S., it’s limited to 25 or 35 m.p.h. top speed (depending on state law) and not legal for highway driving.
In promoting the venture in 2010, McAuliffe said, “The business plan is to hire more than 4,000 workers in Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia.” In a video clip dated 2011, he can be seen saying “several thousand employees” would be working at GreenTech’s plant in Mississippi. Those overly optimistic predictions are now being used against him.
In reality, few jobs have so far materialized. As of mid-August, GreenTech employed “more than 80” people in Mississippi and “approximately ten” at its Virginia headquarters, according to Marianne McInerney, who is GreenTech’s executive vice president for sales and marketing and who responded to our questions by email. Workers in GreenTech’s temporary plant (a former elevator factory) in Horn Lake, Miss., “are producing no more than one car every two or three days,” according to the Washington Post, quoting unnamed current and former company employees. GreenTech won’t disclose sales or production figures. It says a new factory being built in Tunica, Miss., won’t start production until some time next year.
As for China, the Ordos plant that McAuliffe announced with such gusto in 2011 may never be built. Construction was halted and put on indefinite hold when Chinese government funding dried up. GreenTech’s McInerney says the company employs five people there, awaiting a decision on whether promised government financial assistance will be restarted.
For example, the Times wrote that Wang recalled a key federal official who “seemed to burn with resentment that Mr. McAuliffe went over his head” to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security, while seeking federal clearance to recruit foreign investors through a special visa program. Wang said that negative publicity over McAuliffe’s use of political connections “had given investors cold feet” and attracted unwelcome attention from McAuliffe’s political enemies, the Times reported. McAuliffe is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee with close ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The RGA ads mentioning China are unfair to McAuliffe to this extent: They fail to mention that GreenTech and McAuliffe have always said that a big assembly factory in Ordos, a city in inner Mongolia, would produce jobs in the U.S. as well.
GreenTech says the plant, if it is ever built, will assemble autos largely from “core components” made in the U.S. The company says exporting complete U.S.-made vehicles to China is “economically infeasible” due to China’s high tariffs. Such joint ventures are the norm in other car companies seeking a piece of the growing Chinese market for autos, now the world’s largest. For example, as we’ve reported, General Motors now makes and sells nearly as many cars in China as in the U.S.
But the fact remains that the ever-enthusiastic McAuliffe was a cheerleader for building a plant in China that, according to GreenTech, could produce 10 times more cars than the company’s still-unfinished plant in Mississippi. The Tunica plant will have a capacity of 30,000 vehicles per year, while the Ordos plant is planned for a maximum production of 300,000 per year, with “multiple manufacturing and assembly lines,” according to GreenTech’s McInerney.
So, we judge that McAuliffe has made himself fair game for this sort of attack. For one thing, Democrats claimed that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney “shipped jobs to China and Mexico.” Furthermore, McAuliffe himself engaged in a similar attack against a Bush administration nominee in 2004, when he was DNC chairman, during a debate televised on C-Span. So what goes around, comes around.
The RGA’s latest attack on GreenTech is also mostly on target when it says that Virginia officials “likened McAuliffe’s factory financing to a visa-for-sale scheme, with potential national security implications,” and that the company is under multiple federal investigations. But no charges have been filed, and it remains to be seen what will come of any of those probes.
Virginia development officials were concerned about GreenTech’s lack of experience in the auto business, for one thing, but also about its proposed use of a special federal program that grants visas to foreign investors. The EB-5 “immigrant investor” program run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was established by Congress in 1990, and grants permanent worker visas to those who invest $1 million or $500,000 (if the investment is made in a targeted employment area) in a new commercial enterprise that employs at least 10 full-time U.S. workers. GreenTech proposed to finance a Virginia plant in part through money raised from Chinese investors seeking such visas.
She did not specify how “national security” might be affected, and there’s no indication that VEDP pursued that angle. And in any case, GreenTech had pretty much given up on getting aid from Virginia by the time she wrote that email, which was dated Nov. 17, 2009. GreenTech CEO Wang already had announced plans for a new plant in Tunica, Miss., on Oct. 9, 2009, at a symbolic “groundbreaking” ceremony at the proposed plant site. Mississippi later loaned $5 million to GreenTech on its pledge to create at least 350 jobs.
McAuliffe, Aug. 16, 2013: I’ve not been contacted in any way by those conducting the [SEC] investigation and have no knowledge of it beyond what has been reported. From what has been reported, the investigation appears to be looking at a document allegedly prepared for potential investors — something I was not responsible for as chairman.
Earlier, the Associated Press also reported that the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security was investigating whether Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, improperly aided an investment company headed by Hillary Clinton’s brother. That company, Gulf Coast Funds Management LLC, is the vehicle through which GreenTech sought to raise its EB-5 visa program funds. At a Senate hearing, Mayorkas strongly denied any wrongdoing. “I have never, ever in my career exercised undue influence to influence the outcome of a case,” he said. Mayorkas is the same official whom GreenTech’s CEO described as seemingly burning with resentment at McAuliffe’s appeal to his boss, Secretary Napolitano. The IG told Congress that so far “we do not have any findings of criminal misconduct,” according to CNN.
All in all, the investigations are a political embarrassment for McAuliffe, even if no charges ever result.
One ad from McAuliffe claims that Cuccinelli’s attacks on him “twist the facts,” while “it’s Cuccinelli who has an ethics problem.” Hmm. Interesting. We find both camps have plenty of legitimate material from which to reap hard-hitting attacks.
This particular ad, in fact, titled “Landowners,” gets the basic facts right, though it leaves the false impression that the “twist the facts” quote, attributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, pertained to an ethical attack. It didn’t. And other newspaper quotes cited in the ad don’t write off the ethical questions surrounding McAuliffe — on the GreenTech Automotive company he headed — despite that ad’s suggestion that they do.
McAuliffe: I’m Terry McAuliffe, candidate for governor, and I sponsored this ad.
Announcer: Ken Cuccinelli’s attacks on Terry McAuliffe twist the facts, and have been called false and ridiculous. The truth is, it’s Cuccinelli who has an ethics problem. Cuccinelli’s office is now under investigation by the inspector general of Virginia for secretly helping an energy company that’s taking gas from landowners but refusing to pay them. The same company that’s given Cuccinell’s campaign over $100,000. Ken Cuccinelli: He’s not for us.
The ad says: “Ken Cuccinelli’s attacks on Terry McAuliffe twist the facts, and have been called false and ridiculous. The truth is, it’s Cuccinelli who has an ethics problem.” The words “twists facts” and “false” appear on screen, attributed to the Times-Dispatch, and “ridiculous” is attributed to the Washington Post. Only the “ridiculous” quote, from a Post editorial, pertains to the GreenTech ethical scandal plaguing McAuliffe. And even then, the editorial said “the jury is out” still on whether the electric car company is a bona fide manufacturing business.
Washington Post editorial, April 15: Republicans first attacked Mr. McAuliffe for doing business outside Virginia. Horrors! That dovetailed with their portrayal of him as a carpetbagger — even though he’s lived in Virginia for more than 20 years — but otherwise was absurd.
It’s equally ridiculous to compare GreenTech to Solyndra, the federally subsidized solar-cell maker that went bust, triggering a torrent of criticism from Republicans. Solyndra received $535 million in loan guarantees from the Energy Department. With the exception of a $3 million loan and land for the plant in Mississippi, GreenTech is relying on private capital, much of it from Chinese investors (including visa-seekers).
The editorial didn’t dismiss the questions about GreenTech’s use of EB-5 visas to attract foreign capital. The Post’s editorial board said: “Although Mr. McAuliffe resigned as GreenTech’s chairman late last year, it would produce a stench if it turns out that GreenTech’s raison d’etre turns out to be little more than a magnet for cheap foreign capital, without realistic prospects of producing cars, jobs or profit.” The editorial said the use of foreign investors under the visa program alone doesn’t make a scandal. But “the jury is out” on GreenTech’s legitimacy.
That’s hardly proof that newspapers have cleared McAuliffe on ethical attacks from Cuccinelli, as the ad implies.
It’s true that the attorney general’s office is being investigated by the state inspector general to determine if an assistant AG improperly gave legal advice to attorneys for energy companies CNX and EQT Production. Those companies are being sued by southwest Virginia residents who say they are owed millions — which is sitting in escrow accounts — for the extraction of methane gas from coal seams on their properties.
The ad then points out that’s “the same company that’s given Cuccinelli’s campaign over $100,000.” CNX is a subsidiary of Consol Energy, which has donated more than $111,000 to Cuccinelli for Governor, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
The McAuliffe camp has made the IG investigation and Consol Energy donations to Cuccinelli the focus of several ads. One ad from a group supporting McAuliffe goes too far when it says that “Cuccinelli is also being investigated by the inspector general.” He is not.
Clip of Cuccinelli with reporters. Reporter: Can we ask some off-topic questions?
Reporter: Your folks want us to ask tough questions of Terry McAuliffe, I mean, shouldn’t we be able to do the same of you?
On-screen text: Energy companies haven’t paid the millions of dollars in royalties they owe Virginians yet. Guess who they have paid? Ken Cuccinelli. $100,000 in campaign contributions. No wonder he’s not taking questions.
Reporter in clip: OK, that’s not going to turn out well.
On-screen text: Cuccinelli is also running for governor. We think it’s time Cuccinelli take some questions. KensVirginia.com. Paid for by NextGen Climate Action.
The ad was paid for by NextGen Climate Action Committee, which registered with the Federal Election Commission in July with a Sacramento address. It’s backed by investment banker Tom Steyer, a Democratic donor and bundler for Barack Obama. He’s also a cofounder of the environmental group Next Generation.
There’s opinion in these claims. Are the energy companies “ripping off Virginians who are owed millions in royalties”? Some, including those who filed the lawsuit, certainly think so. The energy companies say they’re not. Was Cuccinelli’s office “secretly helping” the energy companies fight the lawsuits? A state judge said the emails show the assistant AG was “shockingly” helping the defense. The AG’s office says she was defending a state law on gas and oil.
We’ll give more background on the case and the AG office’s involvement.
Virginia landowners first filed lawsuits in 2010 over royalties they say they are owed by EQT and CNX, companies that have drilled for natural gas in the southwestern part of the state. A U.S. magistrate judge, Pamela Meade Sargent, recommended that four of five lawsuits be classified as class-action suits in June. The legal claims concern both payment and disclosure of the accounting of royalties, and mineral rights. A 2004 Virginia Supreme Court ruling said the gas, which is found in the coal seam, was a “distinct mineral estate” from coal. So, even if a landowner had long ago signed over the rights to the coal on his or her land, the gas would still belong to the landowner. Lawsuits also concern a “forced pooling” practice set by a 1990 law that allows companies to drill on land without permission and put royalties into escrow accounts, leaving a court to decide who gets the disputed money.
The Virginia Gas and Oil Board ordered royalties to be placed in escrow, under the 1990 law. The energy companies point to that law as supporting their activities.
As for Cuccinelli’s office, emails from Assistant Attorney General Sharon Pigeon to attorneys for EQT and CNX came to light after the magistrate judge scolded Pigeon for the correspondence. “Shockingly, these emails show that the [Virginia Gas and Oil] Board, or at least Pigeon, has been actively involved in assisting EQT and CNX with the defense of these cases, including offering advice on and providing information for use on the Motions currently before the court,” Magistrate Pamela Meade Sargent wrote in her recommendation for class-action status for the lawsuits.
Shirley Keene: I was born and raised in southwest Virginia. Very fine people, good neighbors, a good place to live, a good place to raise your family. Since the energy company has come in, they have been making millions from the gas that’s coming from our property. They’re going to extract your gas and leave you with nothing. I haven’t seen one penny. Ken Cuccinelli’s office has given information to the energy company to fight us. Then Cuccinelli got $100,000 for his governor’s campaign. He has made it perfectly clear he cannot be trusted. When you help an energy company against the people that have elected you to office, that is wrong. You have let your people down. You have let the community down. And I do not trust him.
We can’t litigate those lawsuits here. And the inspector general investigation is ongoing, with no charges of wrongdoing as of yet.
It may be an unfortunate fact for Cuccinelli, but it’s not surprising that Consol Energy would donate to the Republican candidate for governor’s campaign. The vast majority of the company’s political donations to Virginia candidates and committees — 84 percent — went to Republicans.
The flap over the gas royalty case isn’t the only tune in the McAuliffe attack-ad playlist. The Democrat also has criticized his opponent for a legal case against a climate change scientist whose findings Cuccinelli disagreed with, and for accepting, and not returning, gifts from businessman Jonnie R. Williams, whose gift-giving has put Virginia Gov. McDonnell and his wife under federal investigation.
We passed over these two attack ads when they came out, because the claims in them are true — even if the lack of substance in the race is alarming.
In an ad called “Witch Hunt,” the NextGen Climate Action group and the McAuliffe camp — one version of the ad says it was paid for by NextGen and “authorized” by McAuliffe — says Cuccinelli “used taxpayer funds to investigate a U.Va. professor whose research on climate change he opposed.” And he “forced” the university to spend $600,000 defending itself against Cuccinelli.
Announcers: It’s been called Cuccinelli’s witch hunt. Designed to intimidate and suppress. Ken Cuccinelli used taxpayer funds to investigate a U.Va. professor whose research on climate change Cuccinelli opposed. Cuccinelli, a climate change denier, forced the university to spend over half a million dollars defending itself against its own attorney general. Ken Cuccinelli, he’s focused on his own agenda, not us. NextGen Climate Action Committee sponsored this ad.
That’s true. Editorials from 2010 in the Roanoke Times and the Washington Post called Cuccinelli’s actions a “witch hunt.” He launched an investigation of a then-University of Virginia professor, Michael E. Mann, who had published a famous “hockey stick” graph of spiking world temperatures in the 1900s. Mann’s work was criticized, and Cuccinelli, using a state anti-fraud law, called into question Mann’s ability to accept a subsequent state grant for separate research.
And then there’s the controversy over gifts Cuccinelli received from businessman Jonnie Williams, CEO of Star Scientific, a nutritional supplement company. The ad below pieces together several local TV news clips saying that Cuccinelli said he’s glad Gov. McDonnell was returning the gifts he had received from Williams, but Cuccinelli wouldn’t be returning the gifts he got, which include a pricey Thanksgiving dinner, private jet trips and time in a vacation home. Of course, those aren’t exactly the type of gifts one can give back — and that’s the point Cuccinelli has made.
News clip 1: As Gov. Bob McDonnell returns thousands of dollars worth of gifts to campaign donor Jonnie Williams, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says he’s not giving anything back.
News clip 2: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli making quite clear tonight he will not be following the governor’s lead.
News clip 3: Cuccinelli received more than $18,000 worth of gifts.
News clip 4: They include a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner, private jet trips and vacation lodgings.
Announcer: Ken Cuccinelli, helping himself, not us.
The attorney general was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a state prosecutor for not reporting the gifts on state disclosure forms for several years, until he amended the forms in April. The ad doesn’t mention that. “Although one cannot help but question whether repeated omissions of gifts from Williams are a coincidence or a pattern reflecting intent to conceal, the disclosure of several other gifts and benefits from Williams in his original statements suggests that the attorney general was not attempting to conceal the relationship,” the prosecutor’s report said. The prosecutor noted that he didn’t “broadly investigate” Cuccinelli or his office.
Cuccinelli is not under federal investigation like the governor and his wife. Authorities are looking into whether McDonnell offered to help Williams’ company while the governor was accepting gifts and money, including more than $100,000 that McDonnell called a loan, from the businessman.
But the fact is, Cuccinelli accepted gifts from Williams and now says he can’t return them and won’t pay back what they were worth. And that’s what the ad says.
Clarification, Aug. 25: Our original story stated that it was correct that GreenTech proposed to build a plant in China “rather than” in Virginia. We have changed that to read “and not” in Virginia. GreenTech says the decision to build in China did not affect the decision not to build in Virginia, and we did not mean to imply otherwise.
Weiner, Mark. “McAuliffe’s new venture.” Syracuse NY Post-Standard. 11 Jul 2010.
America Rising PAC. “Just A Few of Terry’s GreenTech Lies.” video compilation posted to YouTube. 12 Aug 2013.
Kunkle, Frederick. “McAuliffe’s GreenTech car company launched with high hopes, but reality dogs campaign.” Washington Post. 10 Aug 2013.
Burns, Alexander. “Terry McAuliffe left car firm in December.” Politico. 5 Apr 2013.
Gabriel, Trip. “Hopeful’s Connections Jolt Bitter Virginia Race.” New York Times. 9 Aug 2013.
Madsen, Nancy. “Cuccinelli twists facts on rebid of union-friendly Metrorail contract.” Richmond Times-Dispatch/Politifact.com. 12 Aug 2013.
Madsen, Nancy. “Cuccinelli says McAuliffe has rolled out no policies.” Richmond Times-Dispatch/Politifact.com. 10 Jul 2013.
Editorial. “Terry McAuliffe faces scrutiny for electric car company.” Washington Post. 15 Apr 2013.
Strassel, Kimberly A. “Strassel: Terry McAuliffe’s Solyndra.” Wall Street Journal. 11 Apr 2013.
Cuccinelli, Ken. Hugh Hewitt Show. 21 Jun 2013.
Associated Press/WUSA9. “Va. inspector general probes AG office actions.” 13 Aug 2013.
Consol Energy. “CONSOL Energy Inc. Completes Acquisition of CNX Gas Corporation.” Press release. 1 Jun 2010.
Consol Energy Inc. Campaign Contributions. Virginia Public Access Project, accessed 23 Aug 2013.
Vozzella, Laura. “Va. IG probing help given in mineral rights case.” Washington Post. 13 Aug 2013.
NextGen Climate Action Committee, statement of organization. Federal Election Commission. 22 Jul 2013.
Thomas F. Steyer bio. Next Generation, thenextgeneration.org, accessed 23 Aug 2013.
Barack Obama’s Bundlers. OpenSecrets.org, accessed 23 Aug 2013.
Top Individual Donors, 2008 campaign cycle. OpenSecrets.org, accessed 23 Aug 2013.
Szkotak, Steve. “Lawsuit seeks billions for Va. gas drilling.” Associated Press. 18 Jun 2010.
Harrison-Wyatt LLC v. Donald Ratliff et. al. Virginia Supreme Court. 5 Mar 2004.
Code of Virginia. Chapter 22.1 – The Virginia Gas and Oil Act. Virginia General Assembly, accessed 23 Aug 2013.
Owens, Michael L. “District judge will make final ruling on gas royalty suit status.” Bristol Herald Courier. 6 Jun 2013.
Foster, J. Todd. “Series underscores vital watchdog role of newspapers.” Bristol Herald Courier. 6 Dec 2009.
Sargent, Pamela Meade. Adair v. EQT, Adkins v. EQT, Adkins v. EQT, Hale v. CNX, Addision v. CNX. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Abingdon Division. Report and Recommendation. 5 Jun 2013.
Pigeon, Sharon. Emails to CNX and EQT attorneys. Bristol Herald Courier. 15 Jul 2013.
Ress, David. “Cuccinelli was briefed on gas cases.” The Roanoke Times. 15 Jun 2013.
Cuccinelli, Ken. “AG stands with citizens.” Op-ed. The Roanoke Times. 10 Jun 2013.
Editorial. “Ken Cuccinelli seems determined to embarrass Virginia.” Washington Post. 6 Oct 2010.
Helderman, Rosalind S. “State attorney general demands ex-professor’s files from University of Virginia.” Washington Post. 4 May 2010.
Editorial. “Cuccinelli’s witch hunt.” The Roanoke Times. 23 May 2010.
Wood, Carol S. “State Supreme Court Throws Out Attorney General’s CIDs.” University of Virginia. 2 Mar 2010.
Position Statement on Attorney General’s Investigation of Dr. Michael Mann. University of Virginia Faculty Senate Executive Council. 5 May 2010.
Schlange, Danielle. “Ken Cuccinelli Attacked By Climate Scientist As ‘Anti-Science Zealot.’ ” The Huffington Post. 29 Jul 2013.
Kapsidelis, Karin. “UPDATE: Va. Supreme Court rules against Cuccinelli in U.Va. climate case.” Richmond Times-Dispatc. 2 Mar 2012.
“Cuccinelli says no plans to repay Star Scientific CEO gifts.” Associated Press/WSLS. 31 Jul 2013.
Whack, Errin. “Cuccinelli says he would ‘just write a check’ to repay gifts from donor if he could.” Washington Post. 9 Aug 2013.
Herring, Michael N. Report from Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring. uploaded by Washington Post. 18 Jul 2013.
Helderman, Rosalind S. and Carol D. Leonnig. “Attorneys for McDonnells to meet with prosecutors as key phase opens in gifts probe.” Washington Post. 18 Aug 2013.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.