Grand Jury Indicts John Edwards on Six Counts Over Hunter Affair

On Friday, a grand jury indicted former two-time Presidential candidate and congressman John Edwards on six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements, over allegedly using campaign funds to hide his relationship with Rielle Hunter.

That relationship, an affair while he was still married to the late Elizabeth Edwards, also involved a "love child" named Frances Quinn Hunter. Edwards denied being the father of the child for more than two years before finally admitting he was the father in 2010. Elizabeth Edwards died in December 2010, at the time estranged from her husband of 33 years.




The indictment says that Edwards spent over $925,000 to keep Hunter and their baby out of the public's eye during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.

The indictment is available here. In it, "Person A" appears to be former Edwards staffer Andrew Young, who at one time claimed that Frances Hunter was his own child, while Person B" is in fact Rielle Hunter. Hunter is a videographer who covered the Edwards campaign; she gave birth to Edwards' child in February 2008. "Person C" appears to be heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, who was a major donor to Edwards' campaign. "Person D" would be Texas lawyer Fred Baron, who then served as Edwards' campaign finance chairman.

In part, the indictment says:

"The purpose of the conspiracy was to protect and advance Edwards' candidacy for President of the United States by secretly obtaining and using hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from [Mellon] and [Baron], well in excess of the Election Act's limit, to conceal Edwards' extramarital affair with [Hunter] and [Hunter's] pregnancy with his child. Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and pregnancy would destroy his candidacy by, among other things, undermining Edwards' presentation of himself as a family man and by forcing his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from other campaign activities to response to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy."

The indictment, as well as an arrest warrant were filed in Greensboro, N.C.. That is the district where his campaign was headquartered.

Reportedly, both Edwards' camp and federal prosecutors attempted to come to a plea bargain agreement continued though Tuesday. Apparently, both parties were unable to come to an agreement.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer on Friday added the following statement:

"We will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws. Our campaign finance system is designed to preserve the integrity of democratic elections — for the presidency and all other elected offices — and we will vigorously pursue abuses of the kind alleged today."

Edwards' lawyer Gregory Craig responded to the indictment. He said,

"John Edwards will tell the court he is innocent of all charges and will plead not guilty. He did not break the law and will mount a vigorous defense."

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