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.
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A federal grand jury had been examining Edwards’s role in funneling money from political donors to a former campaign aide, Rielle Hunter, allegedly to cover up an extramarital affair the two had while Edwards was a campaigning for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Edwards’s Washington-based attorney, Gregory Craig, flew to North Carolina on Thursday as the indictment loomed, to consult with Edwards, a former North Carolina senator.
Justice Department officials declined to comment.
People familiar with the probe have said that Edwards, whose once-promising career was destroyed by the exposure of his affair with Hunter, had considered negotiating a plea agreement because, as a single father, he wanted to put the matter behind him. His estranged wife, Elizabeth Edwards, died of breast cancer in December, leaving behind a grown daughter and two middle-school-age children.
The federal investigation has been underway since at least early 2009, when Edwards confirmed that political groups linked to him were among the potential targets of a probe into his finances.
Individuals familiar with the probe have said that investigators are focusing on whether money paid to Hunter and former Edwards campaign aide Andrew Young constituted campaign donations, since the funds helped Edwards’s presidential campaign by keeping the affair secret.
Asked why no plea agreement had been reached, one of the people familiar with the discussions indicated that Edward, the Democratic Party’s 2004 vice presidential nominee, was not willing to go as far as prosecutors were insisting he should in accepting criminal culpability.
Lawyers for Edwards have indicated that they will vigorously fight any charges. Craig, a former White House counsel for President Obama, issued a statement last week strongly denying any illegal activity by Edwards and accusing prosecutors of exaggerating the strength of the allegations.
“John Edwards has done wrong in his life — and he knows it better than anyone — but he did not break the law,” Craig wrote. “The Justice Department has wasted millions of dollars and thousands of hours on a matter more appropriately a topic for the Federal Election Commission to consider, not a criminal court.”
A criminal trial for Edwards — a one-time trial lawyer legendary in North Carolina for his courtroom skills — would mark an extraordinary step in the downfall of a politician once seen as brimming with potential.
Hunter was a videographer for Edwards’s 2008 presidential campaign. He initially denied that he had fathered a child with her. In January 2010, Edwards admitted to being the father of Hunter’s daughter, Quinn. Shortly afterward, he separated from his wife, also a prominent Democratic activist.
A trial would feature a high-stakes legal showdown between Craig, President Obama’s former White House counsel, and the Obama Justice Department. Some experts on campaign finance law have said this week that the government’s case may be difficult to prove.
