John Edwards May Face Prosecution Over Affair Cover-Up

It’s not the affair, it’s the cover-up
US News • Views: 28,363

This is not turning out to be a good day for philandering politician John Edwards: US Green-Lights Prosecution for Alleged Campaign Law Violations Tied to Affair Cover-Up.

The United States Department of Justice has green-lighted the prosecution of former presidential candidate John Edwards for alleged violations of campaign laws while he tried to cover up an extra-marital affair, ABC News has learned. …

Edwards has been the focus of a lengthy federal investigation focusing on hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly provided by two wealthy supporters. The government will contend those were illegal donations that ultimately went to support and seclude his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

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26 comments
1 lawhawk  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:01:34am

Karma.

2 Lidane  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:04:58am

Karma’s a bitch, but it’s still better than what he deserves.

3 allegro  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:06:37am

Would that this much effort be also devoted to the prosecution of Wall Street fraudsters that have done so much more damage.

4 rwdflynavy  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:06:54am

Jail time, Jail time, Jail time… chant it with me!!

5 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:10:06am

re: #3 allegro

I agree with the sentiment, but this is a pretty easy score. There’s already abundant evidence of the coverup.

Prosecution of Wall Street assholes is much harder because the majority of them work within the limit of the law. We have pretty weak financial regulation, and much of it depends on proving that someone knew something or not at a specific time. They’re tricky as hell.

I completely agree that we should be focusing much more on prosecuting high level white-collar crime. We don’t because of the cost and the amount of effort that it takes, as well as the close collusion between those in the financial industry and those in Washington.

6 Ericus58  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:11:43am

Vanity.
Sense of Entitlement.
Fraud.
Not good traits to exhibit, when presenting yourself as a potential President.

but man, did he have some hair….

7 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:12:23am

This is a major difference between the US and Europe: making tons of money through dodgy practices is nowhere near as likely to wind up being investigated or prosecuted than pulling tons of pussy using dodgy morals…

8 JeffM70  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:16:57am

Break campaign law to cover up an affair, you get prosecuted. Have an illegal wiretapping program and engage in acts of torture, you go free. Edwards deserves his fate, but I can only shake my head at Washington’s priorities.

9 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:17:35am

re: #7 ralphieboy

Well, this really is dodgy finances as well. It’s just rather minor compared to most crap.

I mean, I consider the average stockbroker to be, basically, a fraudsters. They don’t outperform the market— on average, they are the market, so that’d be kind of impossible— and they charge fees for the privilege. A full index fund, which has tiny fees compared to a stockholder, is better money.

And that’s not even getting into the gigantic level, where, basically, the banker’s defense to the meltdown was incompetence. They bundled securities together in such a way that they were chock full of risk and eventually due for a meltdown, using mathematical equations they didn’t really understand in order to do so. Did they do so because they wanted the short-term returns that dominate capitalism these days and didn’t care about the risk? Did they actually believe that, somehow, risk had been calculated? Did they calculate the risk and somehow massively screw it up?

Who knows.

Captialism needs capital and the movement thereof, but much of the financial industry is parasitic— not by intention, but by dint of evolutionary pressure.

10 butterick  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:18:04am

This will be endlessly trumpeted for two reasons:

1) Democrat
2) penis

But lord knows Americans need a serious problem like this to focus on instead of all the trivial things like climate change, oil depletion, massive financial fraud and three wars.

11 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:18:12am

Oh, and Edwards is a douche who deserves everything that’s coming to him.

12 ausador  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:19:04am

My magic 8-ball says: Not likely

Which I take to mean that after they drag him thru the mud some more and drag his family into court to testify he will either be found not guilty or convicted and forced to pay some tiny fine that is only a fraction of what was misappropriated.

That IS how these thing always end if your politically connected/famous after all. One might even think that perhaps Lady Justice is peeking out from under her blindfold at times. /

13 blueraven  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:19:06am

re: #3 allegro

Would that this much effort be also devoted to the prosecution of Wall Street fraudsters that have done so much more damage.

I wish it could be both. Edwards deserves what he gets though. His disrespect for a terminally ill woman; his wife, the mother of his children, is unforgivable.
The fact that he broke the law while doing so, is almost secondary to me.

Yes, karma is a bitch.

14 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:20:15am

re: #10 butterick

It’s not like we’re using the only prosecutor, judge, and courtroom in the world to do this, you know.

15 mr.fusion  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:30:35am

Very OT, but OMG a Sarah Palin movie!

Link

Too funny…..anyone still think she isn’t running?

16 Kragar  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:32:04am

re: #15 mr.fusion

Very OT, but OMG a Sarah Palin movie!

Link

Too funny…anyone still think she isn’t running?

re: #15 mr.fusion

Very OT, but OMG a Sarah Palin movie!

Link

Too funny…anyone still think she isn’t running?

Is that the one where she has sex with those guys with the fake Russian accents or the one where she has sex with the Obama impersonator?

I’m confusing my Sarah Palin movies, aren’t I?

17 darthstar  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:33:57am

This is great news for John McCain.

18 darthstar  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:34:46am

re: #16 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

re: #15 mr.fusion

Is that the one where she has sex with those guys with the fake Russian accents or the one where she has sex with the Obama impersonator?

I’m confusing my Sarah Palin movies, aren’t I?

You’re thinking about that other reality show - the Real Housewife of Wasilla

19 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:35:46am

It’s never a good day to be a philandering politician, because every day you have to wake up and be you.

And that would suck.

20 darthstar  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:36:02am

re: #15 mr.fusion

Very OT, but OMG a Sarah Palin movie!

Link

Too funny…anyone still think she isn’t running?

She’s running…for Senator in Arizona. She needs to get re-elected to something and not quit half way through her first term…then she can run for President in 2016 - and the people of Arizona are stupid enough that they might just elect her (they elected carpetbagger McCain, after all)

21 reloadingisnotahobby  Wed, May 25, 2011 9:41:05am

He’s going to need a REALLY GOOD LAWYER!!
…Oh…wait…

22 martinsmithy  Wed, May 25, 2011 10:21:16am
This is not turning out to be a good day for philandering politician John Edwards.

But it’s a good day for the American people, who avoided having this slime as Vice President or President of the United States.

23 [deleted]  Wed, May 25, 2011 10:25:40am
24 wee fury  Wed, May 25, 2011 10:28:05am

Scumbag.

25 SanFranciscoZionist  Wed, May 25, 2011 10:31:09am

re: #11 Obdicut

Oh, and Edwards is a douche who deserves everything that’s coming to him.

Yeah, pretty much. There are many other priorities out there, but since my sympathy for Edwards is so very low, I don’t care.

26 Ming  Wed, May 25, 2011 1:00:14pm

I’ve always thought of both John Edwards and Sarah Palin as the two worst candidates for Vice President (from major parties) in modern times. John Edwards really climbed up the immorality meter when he lied repeatedly, with full commitment to the lie, about his affair. Sarah Palin is in a different category altogether. She’s not immoral, because she’s not capable of being moral or immoral. She’s simply a borderline psychotic.

If Newt Gingrich is the Republican 2012 Vice Presidential nominee, he’d be the third member of this list.

If you think about it, it is truly frightening that both John Edwards and Sarah Palin came so close to the Vice Presidency, and so recently.


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