John Edwards indicted in the affair coverup-United States Today

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury Thursday indicted former North Carolina senator John Edwards for violating election laws by accepting nearly $ 1 million from supporters to cover up an extramarital affair during his 2008 presidential campaign. By Gerry Broome, AP

The former presidential candidate, was charged with aiding derives from an affair coverup.

By Gerry Broome, AP

The former presidential candidate, was charged with aiding derives from an affair coverup.

Page six-count indictment caps a two-year investigation and represents a tremendous downturn for the man who rose from humble beginnings as the son of a mill worker to become the Democratic party vice presidential nominee in 2004. Prosecutors also issued a warrant for his arrest.If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $ 250.000-good for the conspiracy charge. He faces five years in prison and a $ 250.000-fine on each count accepts and receiving illegal campaign contributions and a maximum of five years in prison and a $ 250.000-fine on charges of hiding the allegedly illegal donations.The case is about whether money from two of his wealthy supporters used to hide the affair and Edwards ' out of wedlock daughter amounted to illegal campaign contributions, because they helped to accelerate his presidential ambitions.According to the law, individuals may not contribute more than $ 4,600 to the presidential candidate in the 2008 election and more than $ 25,000 Total candidates and party committees.In the 19-page indictment, said federal prosecutors Edwards, 57, accepted more than $ 925,000 from wealthy benefactors to conceal the affair and "protect and promote" his presidential campaign. "Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and pregnancy would ruin his candidacy, inter alia, undermine the Edwards's presentation of itself as a family man and by forcing her campaign to divert staff and resources from campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy," says the indictment.Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer on Friday denounced Edwards's "System." "We will not allow candidates for high office who abuse their special ability to access cash coffins for their political supporters to circumvent our election laws," he said in a statement. "Our campaign finance system is intended to preserve the integrity of the democratic choice – for the Presidency and all other elected offices – and we will vigorously pursue an abuse of the kind that allegedly date."He is charged with one count of conspiracy, four cases of illegal fees and a number of false statements by not disclosing the payments of federal campaign-finance reports. "John Edwards will announce the Court he is innocent of all charges and will plead not guilty. He did not break the law and will mount a vigorous defence "Edwards ' lawyer, Gregory Craig, said Edwards ' Mistress Friday., Rielle Hunter, worked as a campaign Videographer. Their daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, born in February 2008, several weeks after he ended his White House bid.He initially denied having the affair, but in the summer of 2008 admitted to an affair with Hunter. Last year, admitted he went to her children, only days before the release of a tell-all book by ex-campaign aide Andrew Young, Young, who had initially claimed paternity to protect his boss, said Edwards solicited money from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, 100-year-old widow of Banking heir Paul Mellon, hide affair. Young said hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mellon sent him, funneled through his decorator, and sometimes hidden in boxes of chocolates. "This was the arrangement of Senator expected to follow, so that he would have reasonable mina, "Young wrote in his memoirs, The Politician's lawyers have said Mellon. She showed money gifts and did not know where it would.Young said he used the money from Mellon and Dallas lawyer Fred Baron, President Edwards's fundraising campaign Committee, to hide Hunter first in North Carolina, then at the Baron's Aspen, Colorado, holiday homes, and later at a Santa Barbara, California, mansion as the National Enquirer and other media pursued the story.In an August 2008 interview days after Edwards ' admitted the affair, told me today that he United States Baron paid for Hunter to move to California and monthly payments for her house.Baron, who died in October 2008, said he acted on his own. "I never talked to John Edwards on it," he said.In his book claimed Young Edwards knew the Barons help.Reports of an impending Edwards has swirled through prosecutions Washington and North Carolina in recent days. Last week, said Craig prosecutor conducts an "untested" theory in their case. "John Edwards has made mistakes in his life, and he knows it better than anyone else, but he did not break the law, "Craig said in a statement.Campaign-finance experts say cases would break new ground, and that may prove difficult for prosecutors. "I do not think there has been a criminal case with similar facts of the Justice Ministry," said Jan Baran, lawyer, veteran Republican Ethics.Meredith McGehee, a campaign-finance expert Center legal campaign said large payments of "hush money" to support a politician who is breaking the goal of the campaign-finance laws designed to prevent special interests have undue influence in elections. -I don't think most Americans want their politicians beholden to rich people, "she said.Edwards grew famous as one of North Carolina's top trial attorneys before won the United States Senate seat in 1998, his first political office. He ran twice for the Presidency — the first in 2004, when eventual nominee John Kerry selected him as their, and again in 2008. He campaigned as a champion of the underprivileged who would work to end poverty and provide health care for all.Before the scandal that ended his political career, had his life marked by tragedy. His son, Wade, died in a car accident in 1996 at the age of 16. the day after the 2004 election, Edwards ' wife, Elizabeth, learned she had breast cancer. Three years later, Edwards prepared for his second presidential campaign, the couple announced that the cancer had returned and was incurable.Elizabeth Edwards died in December, estranged from her husband of 33 years. "This is yet another example of a powerful figure brought their own actions, "said Ferrel Guillory, who heads the program in public life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."I don't hear many people around here say they want him to go to prison, "Guillory added. "The story has been going on for so long and have had so many twists and turns ... a sort of squeamishness has set in, and people think this episode in political life in North Carolina must fade into the background.

Contribute: Kevin Johnson, Catalina Camia

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