Former U.S. presidential hopeful faces felony trial
Edwards could get 30 years in prison, $250,000 fine
Former U.S. Senator John Edwards goes on trial today on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair “would destroy his presidential campaign,” prosecutors said in a trial brief.
The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer.
Edwards, 58, is accused of conspiring to solicit the money, receiving more than the $2,300 allowed from any one donor, and failing to report the payments as contributions.
He faces six felony counts, each carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Edwards admits personal failings, but insists he broke no laws.
Edwards’ defenders say the government is overreaching with its prosecution of Edwards, who earned his fortune as a trial lawyer in North Carolina before being elected as a U.S. senator in 1998.
His defence lawyers dispute the Justice Department’s interpretation of federal election laws, arguing the donors would have given the money regardless of the campaign and did so knowing it wouldn’t be used for campaign purposes. The money was not spent to influence the election, but rather to conceal the affair and resulting pregnancy from Edwards’ wife and children, they said.
Edwards never personally received any of the payments, nor did his campaign. The money was used to cover living expenses and medical care for his mistress, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, rather than traditional campaign activities.
“This is expanding the scope of the definition of campaign contribution,” said Ron Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University. “It is an unprecedented definition.”
The defence is expected to call two former Federal Election Commission members who, if allowed by the judge, would testify they believe Edwards did not violate campaign finance laws.
Hampton Dellinger, a former deputy attorney general who has followed the Edwards case, said the campaign finance experts’ testimony could be pivotal. The missing pieces of the case also could be significant, he said. Neither of the two donors whose payments are in question are able to testify.
Fred Baron, who served as Edwards’ national campaign finance chairman in 2008, has since died, and heiress Rachel (Bunny) Mellon is 101 and physically unable to attend the trial.
Andrew Young, a campaign aide who later wrote a tell-all book about Edwards’ affair and the efforts to keep it out of the public eye, will be a chief government witness. Young initially claimed he had fathered a child with Hunter, who is also expected to testify.
Edwards, who ran for president in 2004 before becoming John Kerry’s vice-presidential running mate the same year, has his own credibility issues. He repeatedly denied having an affair and daughter with Hunter, and finally admitted paternity two years after the child’s birth.
“This case is not so much the United States v. John Edwards, it’s Andrew Young v. John Edwards,” Dellinger said. “And I think the jury’s determination about which one of them is more credible may be one of the key factors in deciding whether Mr. Edwards is guilty.”