The Cellar - John Edwards in trouble again?

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classicman

05-03-2009 02:16 PM

John Edwards in trouble again?

As if his wife's tell-all book wasn't enough, he is also under investigation over his campaign fund spending.

Edwards acknowledges probe over campaign funds

Quote:

"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter."

Edwards' statement was first reported by The News & Observer of Raleigh.

His political action committee paid Hunter's firm $100,000 for video production in a four-month span in 2006, and then paid an additional $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007. At the time, the PAC only had $7,932.95 in cash on hand, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

That same day, according to the records, Edwards' presidential campaign paid the PAC $14,034.61 for what is listed as a "furniture purchase."

U.S. Attorney George Holding has declined to comment and said he won't confirm or deny an investigation.

Willfully converting money from a political action committee for personal is a federal crime.

The furniture money was one of just five contributions to the political action committee between April 1 to June 30, 2007. The other four occurred on June 30, the last day of the reporting period, including a $3,000 contribution from the wife of Edwards' finance chairman, Fred Baron.

Baron, Edwards' national finance chairman and a wealthy Dallas-based trial attorney, said last year that he quietly began sending money to Hunter to resettle in California. He said no campaign funds were used and that Hunter was not working for the campaign when he started giving her money.

TGRR	05-03-2009 02:18 PM

Reminder: There's no sense debating any of this with Classicman, as anytime you actually back him into a corner, he'll ignore the post he can't answer.

That being said, Edwards is a pud.

Redux

05-03-2009 02:33 PM

So if he is found guilty of FEC violations (and he is not yet), he will pay a fine.

Who cares?

TheMercenary

05-03-2009 03:00 PM

I wonder if they will find a link to his payments to his Mistress? I think it is funny as hell.

ZenGum

05-04-2009 12:47 AM

I reckon mistress counts as furniture. That makes it a legitimate office expense.

xoxoxoBruce

05-04-2009 01:07 AM

Considering he a scumbag lawyer that made millions from bullshit malpractice claims against doctors, nothing would surprise me.

sugarpop

05-06-2009 06:06 PM

If he is guilty he should be prosecuted. Just like all the assholes who approved torture. Only thing is, they will probably get away with it, and he probably won't. Our priorities are so screwed up in this country it isn't funny. *heavy sigh*

TheMercenary

05-06-2009 08:14 PM

Now it sounds like it is possible that his wife covered for him as he seeked a power position in government. What a doublestandard cock. Is this one of the leaders of the party?

classicman

05-06-2009 09:33 PM

Absolutely not!

Undertoad

05-07-2009 10:39 AM

Rielle Hunter now wants to do a paternity test on her baby, presumably to show Edwards is the father, and somebody at Deceiver wrote a Fark-quality headline for it:

Rielle Hunter Wants Even More DNA from John Edwards?

Now that's humor!

Pie	05-07-2009 01:37 PM

<patience>No, he's not 'one of the leaders of the party'. That's why he didn't win the election.</patience>

classicman

05-07-2009 03:34 PM

good thing you have <patience> Pie - :)
After three teenagers - I'm all out

TheMercenary

05-07-2009 09:46 PM

Heard Elizabeth Edwards on NPR today. Classy lady but why she put up with it knowing all along from before the time he started his run for the presidency and just outright pretending like there was no issue is beyond me.

classicman

05-07-2009 10:00 PM

I can think of two things right quick.

Money & Power

jinx	05-07-2009 10:01 PM

Status

Beestie

05-07-2009 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMercenary (Post 563661)

Same reason Hillary did. Same reason they all do. Its a price they are willing to pay.

sugarpop

05-09-2009 09:13 AM

You never know the inner workings or agreements people make in relationships, especially long term relationships. He really just shouldn't have gotten caught.

Part of the problem though is the press. When they find out these things, they just can't let it go, and these kinds of things really should be private. It isn't really news. At least not in my opinion. Sex should be offlimits, unless it involves illegal sex (like with a minor or prostitute), OR unless it's some person spewing hatred of homosexuals and trying to block legislation that would give them equal rights, but they are caught having sex with a person of the same sex. THAT would be fair game.

Shawnee123

05-09-2009 09:55 AM

Well, it certainly sells books, as Beestie pointed out:

article about Hillary's book, 2003

article about Elizabeth's book, 2009

The press makes it public then they hop on for the books sales. You can hardly point fingers at the press and public if the involved parties are riding that wave as well.

classicman

05-09-2009 11:09 AM

Pop - so you don't think it shows anything about the character of the person?

sugarpop

05-10-2009 07:07 AM

Not really. I think it shows something about a certain aspect of character in the person, but certainly not the most important aspects I would look for in a president. Personally, I think most men will cheat at some time in their life. Probably most women too. I do not necessarily think it's a fatal character flaw, because I don't really believe most people are meant to be completely monogamous for their whole life. Many couples know this, and they make agreements about what is acceptable and what isn't.

Having said that, I have no idea about the relationships you are discussing here. Maybe they had agreements, maybe they didn't. But even if they didn't, do you really think it should be up to the press to break a story about infidelity? Because honestly, I don't see how that would bear on someone's ability to do their job. And, if the wife didn't know and the husband was a scumbag for lying to her and cheating on her and not telling her about it, then the only thing that would come out of that action is it would cause an awful lot of pain and embarrassment to an innocent person(s). A person who, btw, at the time the story broke, was going through a very difficult time fighting cancer. I think it was extremely poor judgement and taste to break that story the way they did. Of course, it also shows poor judgement on his part to carry on an affair while he was running an election.

Many other cultures have a lot more openness and understanding about this stuff. They have mistresses, the women sometimes have a lover. I don't see how that has anything to do with being president, regardless of if the president is a man or a woman. Many of our presidents in the past have had lovers outside of their marriage. I do think they should be careful about it.

I think it is a much more dangerous character flaw to lie to the American people, and to the world, in order to start a war with a country that had nothing to do with attacking us. I think it is a much more dangerous character flaw to lose your moral compass and do things that you know in your heart are wrong, immoral and unethical, and then hide them from the people, and then pretend you don't know anything about it when really you do. I think it is a much worse character flaw to not listen, to not try to see things from another perspective, to have to always be right.

I could go on, but I'm kinda out of it right now. I hope this all makes sense. :3_eyes:

classicman

05-10-2009 03:45 PM

After the "Not Really" I was kinda done. Someone who cannot make a commitment and stand by it has no business leading our country - and there are plenty of them doing just that, unfortunately.

Undertoad

05-10-2009 04:09 PM

ABC News blog: Staffers planned to sabotage Edwards' campaign

Quote:

But by late December, early January of last year, several people in his inner circle began to think the rumors were true.

Several of them had gotten together and devised a "doomsday" strategy of sorts.

Basically, if it looked like Edwards was going to win the Democratic Party nomination, they were going to sabotage his campaign, several former Edwards' staffers have told me.

They said they were Democrats first, and if it looked like Edwards as going to become the nominee, they were going to bring down the campaign.

They're like - now that we're on the campaign, and we get to know the guy, turns out he's an asshole.

OK, but as long as we're making major campaign money, it's all good. We stay in, and hold the election pat with O in the lead and us swiping votes from Hillary; and if Johnny gets 35% somehow, we pull a leg out from under the table and let it come crashing down.

He shouldn't have been President, should never have been considered for it, and this proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Think about it: he couldn't even convince his own campaign team that he was the right guy for the job.

sugarpop

05-12-2009 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad (Post 564479)

ABC News blog: Staffers planned to sabotage Edwards' campaign

They're like - now that we're on the campaign, and we get to know the guy, turns out he's an asshole.

OK, but as long as we're making major campaign money, it's all good. We stay in, and hold the election pat with O in the lead and us swiping votes from Hillary; and if Johnny gets 35% somehow, we pull a leg out from under the table and let it come crashing down.

He shouldn't have been President, should never have been considered for it, and this proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Think about it: he couldn't even convince his own campaign team that he was the right guy for the job.

Good for them. They are right, he shouldn't have been running a campaign while having an affiar. Not in THIS country. That was majorly stupid on his part.

sugarpop

05-12-2009 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by classicman (Post 564472)

After the "Not Really" I was kinda done. Someone who cannot make a commitment and stand by it has no business leading our country - and there are plenty of them doing just that, unfortunately.

So you think having an affair is worse than lying to the world in order to create a unnecessary war?

classicman

05-12-2009 12:49 PM

No I do not.

Are you really that dense?

classicman

05-12-2009 12:54 PM

Sugar, You have an interesting take on the Edwards staffers who were going to wait until something happened before doing the right thing...
Why did they continue to work for him?
Why did they continue to take money & donations of time and effort from other people?
Why did they maintain the lie for him?
Why is all that ok in any way shape or form?

Pie	05-12-2009 12:58 PM

Because they wanted Obama to win. They were suckering $$ and votes from the other non-black candidate. :rolleyes:

classicman

05-12-2009 01:16 PM

Oh - well then I guess its ok then - not.

classicman

09-22-2009 02:46 PM

Ahhh - The truth shall set you free...

Quote:

Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards talked a campaign aide into claiming he fathered a child born to Edwards' onetime mistress, sources familiar with the issue said Monday.
Edwards admitted to his affair with Rielle Hunter in August 2008 after months of denials, but said he could not have been the father of Hunter's daughter, who was born the previous February. Former Edwards staffer Andrew Young has said he was the girl's father -- but has recanted and says he made it because he believed in Edwards, lawyers and others familiar with the matter told CNN.

Young was married with children when he claimed to have fathered Hunter's child. He never signed any affidavits or legal papers, however, and reversed his claim after Edwards, as one of the sources put it, dropped Young "like a hot potato."

The news comes as a grand jury in Edwards' home state of North Carolina is investigating payments made to Hunter -- who had been hired as a campaign videographer -- by the former senator's campaign and supporters. Hunter was photographed entering the courthouse where the grand jury was meeting in August.
Edwards paid Hunter's production company $114,000 for a series of videos featuring him before and during his 2008 campaign. He said in May that he believed "that no funds from my campaign were used improperly."

Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN that if Edwards willfully failed to report payments to his mistress that could be considered campaign contributions, he could face felony charges that carry prison terms of up to five years.

classicman

01-21-2010 11:48 PM

Quote:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Confirming what practically everyone already suspected, John Edwards confessed Thursday he fathered the baby born to his ex-mistress – an admission that came just ahead of a bombshell book by a top aide to the former Democratic presidential candidate.

Edwards had long denied the girl, Frances Quinn Hunter, was his, even after he admitted cheating on his wife with the child's mother, Rielle Hunter. Hunter had been hired before Edwards' 2008 White House campaign to shoot behind-the-scenes video of him.

"I am Quinn's father," the 56-year-old former North Carolina senator said in a statement. "It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me."

The confession came ahead of the Feb. 2 release of a book by former Edwards aide Andrew Young that is expected to describe how Edwards worked to hide his paternity with Young's help.

"Get a doctor to fake the DNA results," Young quoted the candidate as saying. "And he asked me ... to steal a diaper from the baby so he could secretly do a DNA test to find out if this (was) indeed his child."

The scandal may not be over: Federal prosecutors in North Carolina are investigating Edwards' campaign finances, apparently with regard to Hunter, whose video production firm was paid at least $100,000 in 2006 alone.

Link
Finally, now throw the bastard in prison. (The father not the daughter.) Start sending them to jail - the rest will eventually get the message.

xoxoxoBruce

01-22-2010 12:02 AM

John Edwards in trouble ~~again~~ still. :rolleyes:

richlevy

01-22-2010 12:04 AM

Sing it with me now.

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son

The song doesn't work so good if the kid is a daughter.

I still remember being there at the National Constitution Center a day or two before Kerry announced Edwards and hearing Ed Rendell say basically "Naw, not Edwards".

In retrospect, Edwards was our Palin.

classicman

01-22-2010 12:09 AM

Pretty much, then again, Kerry wasn't much better. <shrug>

Urbane Guerrilla

01-28-2010 03:22 AM

Yeah, his Senate voting record showed Kerry never found a Socialist he couldn't sell out to. Tried his damnedest to get that sale closed, for many years. In effect repeatedly voting against humanity by voting against both capitalism and democracy, two things that make life very much worth living.

classicman

01-28-2010 08:48 AM

Now that I think of it, didn't Kerry select him as his VP running-mate?
Then again, The "R"s had Dan Quayle on their ticket . . .

classicman

01-28-2010 12:24 PM

Quote:

nypost.com — Disgraced former presidential contender John Edwards and his wife have reportedly legally separated after he admitted he is the father of a baby girl whose mom he repeatedly bedded during his 2008.

I had to copy and post this - the wording "whose mom he repeatedly bedded during his 2008."will certainly not last. . . will it?

classicman

02-08-2010 09:22 PM

Officer to retrieve Edwards sex tape

Quote:

Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones said in an order released Monday that the Orange County sheriff has appointed a security firm to help recover the video and other items. Former Edwards loyalist Andrew Young has said he has the original tape and copies stored in an Atlanta safety deposit box.

"Mr. Young shall take the Officer with him into the vault to obtain the lock box," the order reads. "The Officer is to secure all items contained in the lock box in bags as is customary for evidence collection."

Jones declared last week that Young was in contempt for not immediately turning over the tape when deputies initially went to retrieve it from him. Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, has sued Young for invasion of privacy and sought the return of what she deemed a "very private and personal" video. Young says he has a tape that shows Edwards in a sexual encounter with a woman he assumes to be Hunter.

Special treatment much?

classicman

05-25-2011 02:05 PM

Report: John Edwards set to be indicted

Quote:

The Justice Department is set to indict former presidential candidate John Edwards on charges that he violated campaign finance laws trying to cover up an extramarital affair during the last presidential campaign, according to multiple reports.

A source close to the investigation told ABC News that Edwards is aware of the Justice Department's plans and could try to arrange a plea deal to avoid a trial.

The probe into Edwards' conduct has been ongoing for two years, and according to the Associated Press, the investigation covered his days in the Senate as well as on the presidential campaign trail.

The focal point of the investigation, however, has been the Edwards' campaign's alleged attempts to cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter, a woman who was initially hired to produce promotional videos for the campaign, and with whom he ultimately had a child.

The probe focuses on two wealthy donors, Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and Fred Baron, who the government alleges donated more than $1 million in funds to aid the cover-up of the affair. The government will argue that amounted to illegal campaign contributions.

Link

Why are these guys already notified and allowed to cut plea deals so frequently?
I think sending a few corrupt politicians to jail/prison/whatever would be the perfect deterrent and the right thing to do.

classicman

06-05-2011 10:39 PM

Jail time at heart of collapse of plea talks in Edwards case

Quote:

After initially saying Edwards had to agree to plead guilty to a felony in earlier discussions, CNN is told prosecutors last week offered for him instead to plead guilty to some misdemeanors.

But the jail time was the breaking point.

After the breakdown in negotiations, a grand jury indicted Edwards, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, on six felony counts.

In court on Friday, Edwards pleaded not guilty.

"I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought I was breaking the law," he told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The News and Observer also reported that Edwards' lawyers were not confident they would be allowed to urge a judge to consider alternatives for incarceration such as a halfway house, weekend passes or home arrest ...

And to think this guy was a serious presidential candidate. One of the comments on the CNN link nailed it.
"Edwards using a story about his kids to take the attention off himself. This man has no morals whatsoever. Just a typical trial lawyer slant from him. "

TheMercenary

06-07-2011 09:01 AM

I guess he will not be suing anymore doctors anytime soon.

classicman

09-13-2011 10:52 PM

John Edwards Indicted:
Charged With Conspiracy, Campaign Finance Violations By Federal Grand Jury

Quote:

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- A federal grand jury indicted two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday over $925,000 spent to keep his mistress and their baby in hiding during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.

The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.

The indictment said the payments were a scheme to protect Edwards' White House ambitions. "A centerpiece of Edwards' candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man," the indictment said.

"Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and the 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 respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy," the indictment added.

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

Negotiations between Edwards' attorneys and federal prosecutors to settle on a charge to which Edwards was willing to plead guilty continued through Thursday, but proved fruitless, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. Prosecutors had insisted on a plea to a felony, which would endanger his ability to keep his license to practice law.

Link

Bout time.

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