Edwards Not Guilty on One Count; Mistrial on Five Others (FLASHBACK)

The Slimes ^ | May 21 2012 | KIM SEVERSON and JOHN SCHWARTZ

[SmokingJoe]

GREENSBORO, N.C. — When former Senator John Edwards, a man who reached for the presidency while scrambling to hide a pregnant mistress, heard on Thursday that a federal jury would not convict him on the six corruption charges he faced, he fell back in his chair and closed his eyes.

For just a moment, the man whose most intimate sexual details, lies and bare political ambition had been aired for nearly six weeks in a federal trial, looked as if he might cry.

Yes, he said as he left the courtroom, he had sinned.

“I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong,” he said. “I am responsible. I don’t have to go any further than the mirror. It’s me and me alone.”

But he was not guilty of using campaign funds to hide those sins, he said.

Certainly, Mr. Edwards has lost in the court of public opinion. But on Thursday he was vindicated, for the moment, by a jury of mostly working class North Carolinians who could not reach a verdict on the five charges of campaign finance fraud and conspiracy he faced. Sw They acquitted him on one, which was based on a $200,000 check that the heiress Rachel Mellon had written him in January 2008, the month he dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president. The result was seen as a setback for the Justice Department’s public integrity section, the watchdog agency that has struggled to rebuild itself.

[SmokingJoe]

John Edwards essentially swindled a 100 year old lady out of $200,000, (all of it in basically direct campaign contributions which is against the law) to pay off his baby moma, and was still acquitted. To be fair, the old lady was a bleeding-heart left-wing Democrat and was more than happy to be conned to fund Edwards' hush-hush money to his lover. Note that her advanced age convinced the government not to prosecute her, so she got off scot-free for illegal campaign contributions. Trump used his own money. Mueller has NOTHING to go on.

[nikos1121]

Let’s see Trump hired an attorney to pay off a black mailer with a check, ie his own money. I really fail to see where Lanny Davis is coming from on this...

[Flick Lives]

The government contended that Ms. Mellon, using a North Carolina interior decorator as a go-between, sent $725,000 to an Edwards aide for what she knew only as a personal problem.

That problem was Ms. Hunter, whose relationship with Mr. Edwards became increasingly apparent to his aides and his wife, Elizabeth, as he traveled with Ms. Hunter around the country campaigning for the Democratic nomination.

- -

$3/4 million in laundered funds from a 3rd party campaign contributor. Now there’s the problem. The 3rd party now has full blackmail control over the candidate.

[Tell It Right]

IMHO, a good reason for Cohen to have Lanny Davis as his attorney. He knows how to win cases like this.

[pepsi_junkie]

IMHO, a good reason for Cohen to have Lanny Davis as his attorney. He knows how to win cases like this.

Lanny Davis doesn't want to win. He wants to sacrifice Cohen so that Trump can be taken down. It's never a good idea to hire a lawyer who has other more important clients that benefit if you go to jail.

[KSCITYBOY]

btt

[\/\/ayne]

And it seems like if it ever came to court the Edwards case could be cited as precedent.

[Steely Tom]

IMHO, a good reason for Cohen to have Lanny Davis as his attorney. He knows how to win cases like this.

Lanny Davis is simply Hillary Clinton's mouthpiece. His function is to tell the judge what Mrs. Clinton wants, and what will happen to the judge if he does anything that inconveniences Mrs. Clinton.

[Blue Highway]

John Edwards closed his eyes as he was about to venture into the dimension of the dead by "Crossing Over"