WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors can seek an indictment against former North Carolina Senator and two-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards for allegedly using campaign donations to cover up an extra-marital affair and love child, ABC News reported late Tuesday.
The network, citing sources, said the Department of Justice has given the go-ahead for Edwards to be prosecuted and the former politician has been informed of the development.
Edwards may now accept a plea deal or face trial.
Edwards, 57, has been the target of a lengthy federal grand jury investigation into allegations of campaign violations related to his relationship with mistress Rielle Hunter.
As Edwards made his second run for the White House, he began an affair with Hunter — an aide who worked as a videographer on his campaign — that was uncovered by the National Enquirer in late 2007.
Edwards finally admitted to the affair in August 2008, having initially denied that he was the father of Hunter’s daughter Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born in February 2008.
The allegations in the federal investigation concern more than $1 million that was used to hide Hunter from public view.
The amount was paid by two big-time donors — 100-year-old heiress and philanthropist Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and Edwards’ 2008 finance chairman Fred Baron, who died in 2008.
Prior to his death, Baron admitted that he had paid money to help hide Hunter from the press, but denied that Edwards had any knowledge of the arrangement.
Former Edwards campaign aide Andrew Young — who lived with Hunter while she was in hiding, initially claimed to be the father of the baby girl as a favor to Edwards, and has since written a tell-all book about the campaign — has said that Edwards definitely knew about the money, and even solicited it.
A prominent trial lawyer before being elected to his North Carolina Senate seat in 1998, Edwards came second in the 2004 Democratic primary race and was then selected by the eventual nominee, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), to be his vice presidential running-mate.
Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth Edwards, died late last year after a battle with cancer.
Posted By Pat Dollard
No comments:
Post a Comment