wolf, a source familiar with the criminal case has told cnn last year federal prosecutors offered mcdonnell, while he was still governor, a plea deal that would have spared his wife s exposure to criminal charges. the source who asked not to be identified said mcdonnell rejected the deal. the source did characterize mcdonnell s decision as throwing his wife under the bus. though mcdonnell has always said he s innocent. the source also said the mcdonnell team asserted, they did not believe doj could get a criminal conviction against the former governor at trial, based on the evidence they had. mcdonnell has said repeatedly he didn t break any laws, and that he s paid back all the money that they got through their relationship with johnny williams, the ceo of a dietary supplement company, wolf. what were they like in court today, the mcdonnells, the demeanor? the couple went into court holding hands. a priest prayed in the couple in the hallway. they are allowed to remain free whil
20 years for 12 of those charges and two of those charges carry potential sentences up to 30 years. literally hundreds of years on the line for the mcdonnells. they say they are not guilty and plan to fight it. the judge said that neither side should talk about this publicly or he would throw them in jail for trying the case in the court of public opinion instead of at its bench. carl, thank you very much. aimis amy stoddard is here. i ve one watching the coverage of this in other places and it s astounding what these people have accepted, especially given this is the one time attorney general of the state. it s not as if he can plead, i didn t know what i was doing. that s exactly right. i think from the choice that governor former governor mcdonnell made to forego his plea option to plead guilty to a felony and have, as you mentioned, his wife exonerated,
morning. one individual seen leaving the car and gets in another and that car bomb goes off. you re right, a lot of people are already questioning how the government allowed this major road in front of the major security headquarters building to be completely uninterrupted without massive security presence and allow this to take place. a lot of questions are going to be asked and already some fingers are being pointed at both the security officials in charge and others that may have been involved in this attack. ayman, thank you very much. meanwhile, in richmond, former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen fought through cameras to the first court appearance. the mcdonnells rejected a plea deal from federal prosecutors that would have let his wife off the hook and release of embarrassing details about their lavish gifts. chris cillizza and usa today washington bureau chief, susan
delay in what is to be the arraignment and bond hearing this friday in richmond, where the district federal court is. the justice department said they wouldn t object to that because mr. mcconnell s attorneys are out of town. it hasn t been delayed formally. but it s possible that the former governor of virginia and his wife will walk into court to be formally indicted and arraigned. part of the case is the feds are alleging that the mcdonnells have a lot of credit card debt and they had do you know anything about that? essentially what they re arguing is that this was on the up and up. why did so much of the money, these gifts go through family members and not be documented in the regular way that these things would be disclosed in the record. he s the state s former attorney general, he knows the laws well,
his legal team has asked for a delay in what is to be the arraignment and bond hearing this friday in richmond, where the district federal court is. the justice department said they wouldn t object to that because mr. mcconnell s attorneys are out of town. it hasn t been delayed formally. but it s possible that the former governor of virginia and his wife will walk into court to be formally indicted and arraigned. part of the case is the feds are alleging that the mcdonnells have a lot of credit card debt and they had do you know anything about that? essentially what they re arguing is that this was on the up and up. why did so much of the money, these gifts go through family members and not be documented in the regular way that these things would be disclosed in the record. he s the state s former attorney general, he knows the laws well,