John Edwards to face charges of misusing vice-presidential race funds

Former US Democratic candidate alleged to have used more than $1m in illegal contributions to conceal affair in 2008 The disgraced former US vice-presidential contender John Edwards is to be charged for allegedly using more than $1m in illegal campaign contributions to hide an affair that destroyed his presidential ambitions. The justice department is to accuse Edwards, once a rising star of the Democratic party as its 2004 vice-presidential candidate, of accepting substantial donations to his 2008 campaign from two wealthy supporters in order to cover up the relationship with his campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter, and the fact that they had a child together. The charges come out of a grand jury investigation which heard from more than a dozen witnesses including Edwards’s former chief aide, Andrew Young, who at one time covered up for his boss by falsely claiming paternity of the child and then writing a book about it. Last year, Young discovered a video tape of Edwards having sex with Hunter among a box of personal possessions left at his home by his former boss’s mistress. A judge ordered the tape to be turned over to the court as part of an investigation into whether cash given to Hunter by Edwards was in effect hush money. Edwards is to be accused of using the campaign donations to support and seclude Hunter. Edwards now faces the choice of attempting to reach a plea bargain which would result in him being struck off as a lawyer or taking his chances on a trial and the prospect of prison time. The charges are only the latest in a string of public humiliations and exposures which have some of Edwards’s former supporters saying that because of his actions and lies they now regard his political persona as a fabrication and that he was unfit for public office. After his 2008 campaign for his party’s presidential nomination faltered in the face of competition from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Edwards was once again considered a likely vice-presidential nominee. But revelations about his affair began to appear in the tabloid press. He initially denied them but they killed off his chances of higher office and later that year he admitted to the relationship with Hunter. However, it was another two years before he admitted to paternity of the child. Further revelations about the true nature of John and Elizabeth Edwards’s marriage emerged. She was regarded as her husband’s closest adviser and strategist who was instrumental in selecting his staff and directing his campaign. But she was later revealed to be an “abusive” individual who left creepy voicemails and terrified her husband’s campaign staff. Elizabeth Edwards had known about the affair for months before it was made public, but her husband assured her it was just a one-night stand. Later she released a book that detailed her struggle with her husband’s infidelity. The couple split up after he admitted the affair with Hunter and she died in December of cancer. John Edwards US politics United States Democrats US elections 2008 Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 25, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.