RICHMOND, Va. -- You can find Celeste Williams, the wife of the now infamous Jonnie Williams, on the witness lists for both the prosecution and the defense in this historic corruption trial at the Federal Courthouse that just wound up its first week.
But you won’t find the mysterious Celeste Williams pictured prominently among the mansion players or partiers or featured in news stories about her husband and this whole mess.
In fact, you won’t find any photos of her online or even in the newsletter for the Hermitage Country Club, which adjoins the Williams’ plush 28-acre property in Manakin (although there is a brief mention of her among members having a June birthday.)
All my researching netted is that she donated some money to the Mitt Romney campaign, among other Republican candidates.
I left her phone message, asking if she’d talk about her view of all this, since her husband brought her up in dramatic testimony during day three of the trial. (She did not return that call, and no one answered my ring at their gated estate.)
Williams testified that he successfully treated his wife’s serious thyroid problem – one that surgeons were about to operate on – with his milestone discovery, the tobacco-based substance in Anatabloc.
He told the court he is convinced his discovery is the most significant medical miracle since antibiotics.
He and his products also ensnared the former first couple in the first corruption trial of a Virginia governor.
On Friday we heard testimony that there were 1,200 texts between Jonnie Williams and Mrs. McDonnell over a two-year period, along with many phone calls and personal visits.
And Williams admitted today that the governor didn’t know he was buying $20,000 worth of dresses and other clothes for Maureen McDonnell while Williams sat on an ottoman outside of the big-name New York City dressing rooms where the governor’s wife was trying on the dresses.
CBS-6 legal analyst Todd Stone said that testimony and other statements made by Williams indicating he couldn’t say whether the governor knew the first lady was receiving other gifts appeared to give Bob McDonnell some credible distance.
The governor’s defense team has said the First Lady had a crush on the smooth-operating Williams.
Perhaps Celeste Williams will be asked about all this.
It certainly appears she can testify about how to be discreet, unlike the former First Lady on trial.
