John Edwards used funds to hide affair, court hears

Defence team says most of illegal donation went to an aide and that Edwards is a man of 'many sins but no crimes'

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• Ben Quinn and agencies
• The Guardian, Tuesday 24 April 2012
• Article history

John Edwards arrives at court in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday Photograph: Gerry Broome/AP

Prosecutors in the trial of a former US presidential candidate, John Edwards, have described him as a manipulative politician who refused to let his affair or his mistress's pregnancy sideline his presidential ambitions.

Edwards, who is accused of violating federal campaign finance laws and using the money to hide an affair from both the public and his wife, went from being a serious contender for the presidency during the 2008 White House campaign to being widely dislikedfor hiding his pregnant mistress .

As the opposing legal teams made their opening statements on Monday, his defence asked jurors to "follow the money", saying that the nearly $1m in illegal campaign funds he is accused of secretly accepting as he sought the 2008 Democratic nomination instead went to a former campaign aide, who used it to help pay for his $1.5m house.

However, prosecutors say Edwards was aware of the payments from the wealthy donors, and that the money was intended to influence the federal election. Had it been publicly revealed Edwards had had an affair with a campaign worker, who became pregnant, Edwards knew his presidential candidacy and marriage would be doomed, prosecutor David Harbach said.

Harbach said the affair had begun in February 2006 when Edwards met Rielle Hunter in a New York City bar. His wife, Elizabeth, was battling the cancer that would ultimately kill her in 2010.

"This affair was a gamble with exceedingly high stakes," Harbach told jurors. "He made a choice to break the law."

Harbach said Edwards had directed his loyal campaign aide, Andrew Young, to seek money from heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and campaign finance chairman Fred Baron in order to help pay Hunter's living and medical expenses and to keep her out of the public eye. Hunter briefly worked as a videographer for Edwards' campaign, but Elizabeth Edwards ordered him to fire her, Harbach said. Edwards later asked Young to claim paternity of the child, the prosecutor said.

"Anything to preserve his chances to be president," Harbach said.

Edwards' parents and eldest daughter, Cate, joined him on Monday for the hearings at the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina,, the state where he grew up and was elected as a senator in 1998. The two-time presidential hopeful was the Democrats' vice-presidential nominee in 2004 during John Kerry's failed presidential campaign. Some early polling in the year before his 2008 presidential campaign showed him in a virtual three-way tie with Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton.

He was indicted last year on six counts, including charges of conspiracy, taking illegal campaign contributions and making false statements. Each carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In their remarks, lawyers for Edwards say he did not know about the money, never instructed Young to obtain it, and never received any of it. "John Edwards is a man who has committed many sins but no crimes," said defence attorney Allison van Laningham. "John Edwards is not afraid of the truth. He welcomes it."

Van Laningham said the donors' payments were not meant as political contributions but rather as personal gifts to help a friend. Mellon and Baron were trying to prevent Edwards from being publicly humiliated, not to influence the federal election, she said.

Both of the donors paid gift taxes on the money, the attorney said.

Van Laningham said that, though Hunter received some of the cash, most of it landed in the pockets of Young and his wife, Cheri. In addition to buying their new home, the couple used it to buy jewellery, electronics and vacations, the attorney said.

Andrew Young has been granted immunity by the government, and is expected to testify for the prosecution. He wrote a tell-all book about Edwards' failed presidential run and, in the past two weeks, he contacted three witnesses in the case to discuss their testimony, Van Laningham said.

"Since he can no longer make money being for John Edwards, he wants to make money being against him," Van Laningham said. "Follow the money and find the truth."