Conservatives Defend John Edwards on the Eve of His Trial

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From The Nation:

Ari Melber on April 20, 2012 - 11:46 AM ET

John Edwards’s trial for campaign finance violations begins Monday. Government prosecutors will build on their unusual theory from last year’s indictment—which charged that the Edwards campaign should have treated payments to the candidate’s mistress as official campaign expenses. Many election law experts criticized that idea as an unprecedented overreach, and in a sign of how this prosecution is scrambling the politics that came before it, the conservative National Review just published a spirited editorial defending Edwards against the charges.

The editorial bears down on a point that Edwards’s lawyers are sure to make at trial: show me the money.

“Because none of the money [for the mistress] went to the campaign,” National Review explains, “and none of the money went for campaign expenses—inasmuch as maintaining a mistress is not a campaign expense—it is difficult to see why this should be prosecuted as a campaign-finance violation.”

Prosecutors counter that Edwards’s desire to run as a “family” candidate made hiding the mistress an electoral necessity. The problem with that, as I wrote when the indictment was released, is that federal rules actually run in the opposite direction. They specifically prohibit the expensing of any costs that “would exist even in the absence of the candidacy” (according to the FEC).

In other words, if a candidate paid for a mistress’s hotel rooms out of campaign coffers, that would also seem to be a violation of campaign finance law. It’s usually a bad sign if the prosecution’s theory is that the defendant broke the law no matter what he did.

Important caveats remain, of course. Edwards’s personal behavior was despicable, a point National Review made with gusto in its editorial (“the Dorian Gray of the Democratic party,” “one of the most loathsome characters in American politics,” “a preening, moralizing fraud”). The trial has not begun yet, new facts could emerge and there may be other laws that were broken separate from the novel theory on campaign expenses. But this case is troubling regardless of one’s feelings about Edwards; it suggests just how distorted and downright broken the regulation of campaign spending is in this country. A widely reviled former candidate faces jail time for money spent on a mistress without campaign expenditures, but candidates and Super PACs can legally raise vast sums from parties with far more direct interests before government without limitation or, in many cases, disclosure requirements. Legislating public funding for all federal elections would cut down on money’s influence in politics a lot more than prosecuting personal payments as campaign contributions, but it would be a lot harder to do.

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From ABC:

BY JAMES HILL, BETH LOYD and ENJOLI FRANCIS
GREENSBORO, N.C., April 25, 2012 — go.com

John Edwards was clearly delighted today when his defense team ripped into the prosecution's main witness today portraying Andrew Young as a liar who tried to use Edwards' scandal to "make a lot of money."

"Oh the sun is out in more ways than one," Edwards said cheerfully as he left court today.

Young testified for two days about how he helped hide Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter while Edwards pursued the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and then kept her under wraps while Edwards angled for the vice president's spot on the ticket.

During much of his testimony, Edwards stared straight at Young.

This afternoon, Edwards' defense team began a cross examination of Young and zeroed in on inconsistencies and mistakes that Young made in television interviews, before a grand jury and in his book about the affair "The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down."

"Is it true in each and every one of those case you've lied?" attorney Abbe Lowell asked Young. Young denied the suggestion.

Lowell accused Young of using knowledge of Edwards' affair with Hunter "to get leverage against him and make a lot of money."

"Isn't it fair you viewed Mr. Edwards as your ticket to the top and your only chance at prestige," Lowell asked. Young admitted he was ambitious and that "I believed working for a future president could lead to great things."

"You really hate him, don't you," Lowell pressed.

"I have mixed feelings," Young replied.

Under Lowell's questioning, Young also admitted that his nickname for Edwards' late wife Elizabeth was Ursula, the evil sea witch from "The Little Mermaid."

The blistering questioning will resume Thursday when Young is back on the stand.

Earlier in the day, Young testified that even after Edwards lost the presidential nomination, he was told that hiding Edwards' mistress was still "the most important job on the campaign" because Edwards was angling to be vice president.

Young told the court that living with Edwards' demanding girlfriend was unpleasant and that he began to suspect that Edwards was not going to keep promises made to Young.

The tension became so great that during a meeting, Edwards and Young came close to throwing punches, Young said today.

Young and his wife, Cheri, had been assigned by Edwards to keep Hunter hidden from the press, a job that put them on the road for months and became increasingly difficult after Edwards dropped out of the Democratic presidential race in 2008.

Young said that during a meeting in Texas with Fred Baron, Edwards' national campaign finance chairman, in the spring of 2008, they discussed the Youngs' long-term plans because the couple no longer wanted to live with Hunter.

He testified that even though Edwards was out of the Democratic presidential race, Edwards and Baron were still focused on a job possibly as vice president or attorney general.

"He told me I needed to stay focused on the job at hand," Young testified during his third day on the witness stand. "He told me to take a deep breath. Do the best I can. ... Mr. Baron wanted us to try and hold on until the Democratic National Convention."

Young said that Baron told him, "Cheri and I have the most important job on the campaign."

Edwards is accused of conspiring with others to use hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions during the 2008 presidential race to cover up his affair. His defense team has maintained that while the two-time presidential candidate's actions were deplorable, they were not illegal.

Young was accused of funneling money to Hunter and falsely claiming that her child was his. Young, who is married with three children, took an immunity deal with the prosecution.

In late December 2007, Young testified, he and a pregnant Hunter left North Carolina and went into hiding. Baron funded the trip that included stops in Florida and Baron's home in Colorado.

During that meeting with Baron in Texas, Young was told to summarize the expenses on Hunter.

A rundown of those expenses totaling more than $200,000 was shown in court today. The expenses included more than $28,000 for Hunter's BMW, $2,400 for housekeeping as well as $40,000 in cash as Hunter's allowance.

Young said that Baron told him that he and his family could never return to North Carolina because Edwards was going to be a very prominent person.

"Mr. Edwards, according to the media and what Fred Baron was saying, was going to be the vice presidential nominee and we needed to keep the cover-up going," Young testified.

He said that Baron told him to sell his home, which was still under construction, and "create a new life."

Young said he became increasingly upset because after Edwards dropped out in 2008 and Hunter's baby was born, Edwards cut off contact with Young.

Young said that in June, he and Edwards had an angry meeting in Washington D.C. Young said that he told Edwards he was unhappy and explained his concerns.

"We had a very angry exchange," he told the court today. He said the two started yelling at each other and nearly came to blows. Before the two parted, Young testified, Edwards told Young that he loved him and would never abandon him.

John Edwards' Trial

On Tuesday, Young testified that he and his wife were "scared to death" as they accepted checks as large as $150,000 marked as payment for furniture when the money was really meant to help hide Edwards' affair with Hunter.

The money came from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, a wealthy philanthropist who made the personal checks out to her friend and interior decorator. The friend, Bryan Huffman, would co-sign checks with Cheri Young in her maiden name, he said. Young said his wife would then deposit the checks into their own account.

Young said that Edwards insisted that it was not illegal and that no one was going to get in trouble.

In June 2008, Young said today, his requests to Mellon for money escalated with a plea for help in setting up a poverty foundation with up to $40 million. He said that she got very upset, accusing him and Edwards of using her for her money.

Young said that when he told Edwards of Mellon's reaction, Edwards laughed.

"He said, 'The good news is it's doable,'" Young said. "He said, 'I will calm Mrs. Mellon.'"

The former aide also testified today that Baron, who was being treated for cancer at the Mayo Clinic, had gotten very angry after Young told him that the National Enquirer had caught Edwards visiting Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in July 2008.

"He started cussing Mr. Edwards out," Young said. "[He said:] 'What the f--k was he thinking? He's ruined everything we've worked for.'"

In August, Edwards admitted in an ABC News interview that he'd had an extramarital affair, but said that he was not the father of Hunter's baby. Young said today that he didn't think the interview was a good idea at the time but that he'd told Edwards, "Tell the whole truth or don't do anything at all."

Young said after the interview -- during which Edwards also said he didn't know whether Young was the father -- he was extremely angry. "I didn't understand why Mr. Edwards didn't clear my name," Young said.

ABC News' Alice Maggin contributed to this report

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By Dylan Stableford | The Ticket:

Edwards outside of federal court in Greensboro, N.C., April 23, 2012. (Gerry Broome/AP)

The John Edwards criminal conspiracy trial continues Friday in Greensboro, N.C., with Cheri Young, the wife of former Edwards aide Andrew Young, expected to take the witness stand.

Young, the prosecution's star witness, dominated the first week of testimony, describing in elaborate detail how he was instructed to hide Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer, during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Below are some highlights from four days of Young's testimony:

• On Tuesday, Young told the court that Edwards instructed him to approach Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, the widow of banking heir Paul Mellon, "and ask for a non-campaign expense, something that would benefit him."

Young said he used the money from Mellon to rent Hunter a house for $2,700 a month and bought her a BMW at Edwards' direction.

"This was going to be a long-term problem," Young said. "And Miss Hunter had good taste."

• He detailed how Mellon's donations were funneled to Edwards. Via ABC News: "Mellon made the personal checks out to her interior decorator, who would co-sign checks with Young's wife in the wife's maiden name, he said. Young said his wife would then deposit the checks into their own account. The first two checks from Mellon were $10,000 and $25,000 in the summer of 2007, he said."

• Young also testified about Edwards' reaction to the news that Hunter was pregnant. "He said she was a crazy slut and there was a one-in-three chance it was his child," Young said, according to Politico.

• On Wednesday, Young testified that he and Edwards "came close to throwing punches" at a tense meeting about Edwards' mistress in June 2008. The former aide said that he also complained to Edwards' campaign finance chairman, Fred Baron, about hiding Hunter, but was rebuffed because the campaign hoped Edwards would be tapped as a vice presidential candidate for the 2008 Democratic ticket.

"[Baron] told me I needed to stay focused on the job at hand," Young said. "He told me to take a deep breath. Do the best I can." Baron, he said, "wanted us to try and hold on until the Democratic National Convention."

• During his meeting with Baron in Texas, Young said he was told to itemize more than $200,000 spent on Hunter, including $28,000 for Hunter's BMW, $2,400 for housekeeping and Hunter's allowance: $40,000 in cash.

• On Thursday, lawyers for Edwards attacked Young's credibility, questioning his timeline of events and discrepancies in his grand jury and trial testimonies. But the nit-picky cross-examination from Edwards' defense lawyer, Abbe Lowell, may have bored the jury and the judge.

"As Lowell's detailed questioning continued," the Associated Press reported, "some jurors appeared distracted and even U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles grew impatient."

"I'm not quite following," Eagles told Lowell at one point. "We're about to beat a dead horse here."

Edwards faces six criminal counts—including conspiracy, four counts of receiving illegal campaign contributions and one count of making false statements—for allegedly soliciting and secretly spending over $925,000 to cover up his affair with Hunter. If convicted on all six counts, Edwards faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

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By JAMES HILL and BETH LOYD | Good Morning America:

The judge in the John Edwards trial today rejected a bid by Edwards' former mistress to sharply restrict what the court and the public can hear about a sex tape the couple made together.

The tape shows Rielle Hunter, who later gave birth to Edwards' child, and it shows enough of Edwards to be able to identify him.

Judge Catherine Eagles rebuffed the request calling it "extremely broad," according to the Associated Press.

The judge had earlier ruled that the video itself is inadmissible and will not be introduced during the trial.

Hunter, who was a videographer on Edwards' failed bid for the presidency in 2007, is expected to testify later in the trial.

The tape came up when Edwards' lawyer Abbe Lowell was grilling key prosecution witness Andrew Young about the final conversation that Edwards and Young during a car ride on Aug. 18, 2008 in a wooded area.

By this time their friendship had been severely strained by the extraordinary efforts to keep the secret of Hunter's pregnancy.

During their conversation Young told Edwards, "If he wasn't going to tell the truth about what transpired, then I was going to tell the truth."

Young told Edwards that he had saved voicemails, text messages, emails and photographs.

"You also told Mr. Edwards you had a private video of Miss Hunters?" Lowell asked.

At that point, the prosecution objected and the subject was not pressed.

Young said that Edwards was sweaty and "at one point I was scared for my life."

"Did you think John Edwards was going to shoot you?" Lowell asked.

"Not personally," Young answered.

"You thought there was a gunman in the woods who was going to come and shoot you?" the lawyer asked.

"That though did cross my mind," he answered.

"Were you afraid there was a gun or a tape recorder?" Lowell asked.

"Both occurred to me," Young replied.

Edwards is on trial for allegedly illegally using more than $900,000 in campaign donations to hide Hunter and her pregnancy.

His defense, however, says the money was used to hide the affair from Edwards' wife and was not related to his presidential campaign.

They emphasized that point today by noting that in a book Young wrote about the affair he said that during the Aug. 18 car ride Edwards told his once trusted aide that he had already confessed to his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. "I have told Elizabeth and you can't hurt me," was the quote.

During his testimony this week, however, Young has said to the court that Edwards said simply, "You can't hurt me."

They have also depicted Young as a greedy liar who used the scandal for his own financial profit.

In today testimony, Young conceded that he included as affair-related expenses trips with his family to Disneyland, Legoland, skiing in Aspen, and a trip to Mexico.

He also admitted spending $200,000 of the money to put in a pool at his home and wire it for audio.

Young testified earlier this week that he was told that hiding Hunter was the "most important" job in the campaign, even after Edwards dropped out of the race because he was hoping to become vice president or attorney general.

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By MICHAEL BIESECKER | Associated Press:

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The wife of an ex-aide to John Edwards broke down on the witness stand Monday as she recounted how the candidate asked the couple to hide an affair he was having and justified using wealthy donors' money to do it.

Testifying at Edwards' campaign corruption trial, Cheri Young said she huddled around a phone in her Chapel Hill home during December 2007 with her husband, Andrew Young, and Edwards' pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter.

On the call, Edwards emphasized the need to preserve his campaign and keep the affair from his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, Cheri Young said. It was a couple weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, and two suspicious tabloid reporters had already tracked Hunter from a doctor's appointment to the Youngs' home.

Edwards made the plan sound "as if it was for the good of the country," Cheri Young said.

Asked by a prosecutor why she went along with it, Young put her hands together, pressed them to her chin and bowed her head as if in prayer. As she began to weep, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles dismissed the jury to give her time to compose herself.

About 25 feet away, Edwards sat back in his chair and put two fingers to his pursed lips. As Young dabbed her tears with a tissue, the former U.S. senator glanced at his watch.

Once the jury returned, Young answered the question.

"I felt like everything had been dumped in my lap," she said. "Everybody was on board but me. ... I didn't want the campaign to explode and for it to be my fault. I ultimately decided to live with a lie."

During the call, Edwards suggested that it would only be a one-day story if Andrew Young took responsibility for the baby.

"'Nobody cares about two staffers having an affair,'" Young recalled Edwards saying.

Hunter had earlier been paid as a videographer by one of the organizations linked with Edwards, who is accused of deliberately using money from two wealthy donors to hide Hunter as he sought the White House.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six counts related to campaign-finance violations. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted on all counts.

At issue are payments from a wealthy Texas lawyer, Fred Baron, who served as Edwards' campaign-finance chairman and an elderly heiress, Rachel "Bunny" Mellon. Andrew Young, who testified last week under an immunity agreement, has acknowledged that he kept about $1 million in payments from the two campaign supporters.

Earlier in her testimony, Cheri Young said she had doubts about taking the "Bunny money" and using it to cover up the affair. She said Edwards hatched the plan to have her deposit the money into an account controlled by her and her husband. Concerned about violating the federal $2,300 limit on individual campaign contributions, Young said she reluctantly agreed after insisting on hearing Edwards himself say the scheme was legal.

"I heard Mr. John Edwards tell me on the phone that he checked with the campaign lawyers and that this was legal," she said.

Cheri Young took the witness stand late Friday after a full week of testimony by her husband, a former fundraiser and close aide to Edwards.

Though Andrew Young testified last week that the couple spent much of the money provided by the donors to build his family's $1.5 million home, the couple also supported the pregnant mistress out of their checking account, paying for her medical care, a BMW, a $2,700-a-month rental house and a monthly allowance of thousands of dollars in cash.

Cheri Young said she agreed to handle the money because if the public found out about Edwards' affair with Hunter, the campaign and her husband's job were in danger.

"I cannot tell you how disgusted I was. Why me? This was my husband's fight," she said. "Now I had to fix it."

After reporters for the National Enquirer tracked Hunter down in December 2007 and the Youngs agreed for Andrew to issue a public statement accepting paternity, they embarked with the pregnant mistress on a cross-country odyssey of private jets and luxury retreats, all paid for by Baron.

Eventually they settled into a $20,000-a-month rental mansion Baron paid for in Santa Barbara, Calif. Cheri Young said Hunter chose the location because that was where her "healer and spiritual advisor" lived.

Cheri Young said Hunter also had her write checks totaling thousands of dollars to the New Age healer, Bob McGovern, whom the mistress said she wanted to be with her when she gave birth.

There was also tension between the Youngs' family and Hunter.

"We were not allowed to touch the baby," Cheri Young testified. "My kids were not allowed anywhere they might breathe on the baby."

Edwards had also stopped returning Andrew's calls, prompting the Youngs to fly to Texas to meet Baron at his home. They met with Baron and his wife, Lisa Blue.

Cheri Young said she told Baron she wanted to go home, but he told them they could never return to North Carolina or live close to the politician. Baron's wife, a lawyer and psychologist, had recently visited the Edwardses and she advised them to steer clear of Elizabeth, who was angry with the Youngs over their role in her husband's affair.

"'Mrs. Edwards is not well," Young recounted Blue as saying. "'I'm a doctor and she is not mentally healthy. There is a very good chance she would be a harm to you and your family.'"

Blue is expected to testify later in the trial. Baron died of cancer in October 2008.

After a mid-afternoon break, a lawyer for Cheri Young told the judge she was suffering from a migraine. The judge dismissed the jury early, telling them Young was expected to retake the stand Tuesday.

After Young completes her testimony, the next witness called by prosecutors could be Josh Brumberger, a young aide who was with Edwards on the night in 2006 when Hunter walked up to the candidate in the bar of a New York hotel and introduced herself. Brumberger was later pushed aside by Edwards after he tried to dissuade his boss from continuing with the affair.

Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

On the Net: Exhibits and trial information: http://www.ncmd.uscourts.gov/trial-i...y-reid-edwards

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JAMES HILL (@jameshillABC) , BETH LOYD and RUSSELL GOLDMAN (@GoldmanRussell)
GREENSBORO, N.C. May 8, 2012:

Former senator John Edwards arrives at a federal courthouse in Greensboro, N.C., May 8, 2012. (Chuck Burton/AP Photo)

Just before John Edwards went public about fathering his mistress' daughter, he confessed to his speech writer that he was aware that a wealthy donor had supported the woman and his baby girl.

Wendy Button testified today in his trial that Edwards dropped his denials about Rielle Hunter being his mistress, fathering her baby and being unaware of money being spent to take care of Hunter and to keep his secret while running for president.

Button testified today that while preparing his speech Edwards told her that "he had known all along that Fred Baron had been taking care of things."

Baron, a wealthy Texas trial lawyer who served for a time as Edwards' campaign treasurer, had donated thousands to Edwards' campaign as well as a couple hundred thousand dollars to help protect his secret.

In an original draft of the speech Edwards gave coming clean about the paternity of his daughter Frances Quinn, Edwards thanked Baron for his financial support, Button told the court.

"While I never asked my friend Fred Baron for a dime, I stood by while he supported my daughter. And I will reimburse his wife," Edwards had initially intended to say in his apology speech, Button testified.

But that line was later dropped and replaced, she said. Edwards said for "legal and practical purposes" that line need to be changed to read, "some people without my knowledge supported Quinn," Button said.

The speech writer testified that she was "deeply" concerned about changing the language of the apology to be less specific. She said she knew the phrase "without my knowledge" in reference to the donors who paid to hide his mistress and daughter "wasn't true."

Button asked Edwards if he should also apologize to Andrew Young, the aide who lied on Edwards' behalf and falsely claimed he had fathered Quinn to protect his boss' political career.

But Edwards said Young should not be recognized in the statement because he was "a bad guy."

The hush money came from Baron and wealthy heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon.

Edwards is accused of illegally using nearly $1 million in campaign donations to hide his mistress. If convicted, Edwards could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Edwards' defense is that the money was never intended for political purposes, but only to keep his mistress a secret from his wife. He claims he did not know about much of the money Young had sought from wealthy donors and that Young was out to keep much of it for himself.

Earlier in the day Edwards' defense team tried to depict Young as calculating and duplicitous.

A former confidante of Edwards testified that he and Young had come to dislike Edwards so much that they laughed about the money to be made from selling a sex tape Edwards had made with his mistress.

Tim Toben, a North Carolina businessman and one-time Edwards' supporter, admitted on the stand during Edward's trial that he and Young joked about the consequences of releasing the sex tape, and disparaged Edwards, a man both men once admired but came to resent.

Toben said Young had told him about a "personal and private video tape" depicting Edwards and mistress Rielle Hunter having sex, while the two men watched a football game together.

"I wonder what that tape is worth today," Toben asked Young in an email soon after a National Enquirer ran a story about Edwards' love child.

Toben said they joked about how much money they could sell the tape for, adding "the numbers were pretty big numbers."

Toben, who was once so close to Edwards he was asked to sneak a pregnant Hunter out of North Carolina in the dead of night, said after Edwards quit the race he went to the Obama campaign to warn them of offering Edwards a job in the administration.

He recalled dining with Edwards at a swank restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., in which Edwards bragged about his prospects in a potential Obama administration, despite the National Enquirer story about his mistress and baby.

"That was so astonishing to me," Toben said. "The clear message I got was if he was offered a slot he would take it."

Toben arranged a meeting with an Obama campaign official and told an Obama operative that the campaign should take seriously the stories reported in National Enquirer about Edwards' then unconfirmed mistress and baby if considering the senator for the posts of vice president or attorney general.

"Usually, they get it wrong. In this case I don't think they did," Toben said of the tabloid's reporting.

Tobens said he was let down by Edwards' behavior.

"I thought he betrayed the trust of the people he spoke for," Tobens said.

Edwards' lawyers sought to depict Toben and Young as embittered men, angry at Edwards and out to make money off their knowledge of his affair.

In a series of emails between Young and Toben, the men routinely disparage Edwards and his wife Elizabeth, who was dying of cancer.

In his emails to Young who was writing a tell-all memoir at the time, Toben calls Edwards a "pathetic little man" and "a sick evil bastard."

"I can't wait for you to OUT him," Toben wrote to Young. "He's an ass and always will be."