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Andrew Wise Quoted Regarding McDonnell Ruling in The Washington Times

Subtitle
"Justices deem McDonnell's actions 'distasteful,' not necessarily unlawful"

The Washington Times

Andrew Wise was quoted regarding the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's acceptance of gifts and loans did not violate federal law in overturning his bribery conviction. The ruling clarified that setting up a meeting or organizing an event is not an official action, and therefore not a bribe. "In the run-of-the-mill political corruption case, you'd hope the government would have more than the fact that someone set up a meeting," Wise said. Although the narrow ruling likely won't affect the cases of other government and elected officials who have been indicted for or convicted of bribery, there could be exceptions, he added. "Not only do you have to forward the email and set up a meeting, but you need evidence that an official tried to influence the ultimate result," Wise said. "We could see cases like that subject to challenges."