Edwards indictment on campaign charges green-lighted by DoJ

posted at 10:02 am on May 25, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Looks like there will soon be two Americas for John Edwards — the one inside a courtroom, and the one outside of it. ABC News reported overnight that the Department of Justice has approved the prosecution of former Senator John Edwards, who once ran on the Democratic ticket for Vice President. The DoJ will seek an indictment on corruption charges related to the use of campaign funds for personal purposes in order to keep his affair quiet:

Edwards might be thinking about cutting a deal:

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.

A source close to the case said Edwards is aware that the government intends to seek an indictment and that the former senator from North Carolina is now considering his limited options. He could accept a plea bargain with prosecutors or face a potentially costly trial.

Bet on the plea bargain. Edwards has been in court enough to know what a mountain of evidence means to an unsympathetic defendant, and Edwards is about as unsympathetic as it gets. A rich lawyer cheats on his dying wife, gets his girlfriend pregnant, and then moves cash all over the board to keep it quiet — what is there for a jury to like?

Don’t expect the Department of Justice to offer anything easy, however.  I’m a little surprised they decided to pursue this; let’s not forget that Edwards would probably have been the Attorney General had this affair never come to light.  But now that they have, they can’t afford to be seen as going easy on a one-time political ally of the President (Edwards endorsed Obama in the primaries after withdrawing).  Edwards will end up doing some jail time in any plea bargain, even if it is at Club Fed, and pay a lot of money in fines.  He’ll get disbarred in all likelihood, meaning that he won’t earn a living at the other end of this tunnel, either.  Unlike Richard Nixon, he wasn’t important enough to rehabilitate in politics.

I’m guessing Edwards cuts a deal for a minimum-security federal facility for no more than two years, and gets out in 18 months with at least some of his fortune intact.

Update: Aaron Worthing disagrees with my prediction and says Edwards’ ego won’t allow him to bargain for a reduced sentence.  We’ll see, but you’d be surprised what looking at more than a decade in prison will do for one’s sense of self-preservation.

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“When the Bush administration was wracked with the leaks of classified information about its counter-terrorism policies, most notably its interrogation and electronic surveillance programs, Democrats in Congress happily took advantage of the information.

Nary a peep was heard about protecting national security and preventing the media from publishing classified information.

But now President Obama has to live in the leak-happy world that he and his colleagues created to undermine the last administration. And they don’t like it. Unlike the Bush administration, however, they are willing to go to lengths that threaten the freedom of the press to stop it — this administration has conducted far more investigations and prosecutions for leaking than its predecessors. And, for the most part, this administration has gotten away with it from the press, which has given them a pass on civil liberties compared to how they treated Republicans.

I deplore the Obama administration’s assault on freedom of the press. But I have no sympathy for the AP or the mainstream media, because this is how you get treated when you are in a politician’s pocket. If the AP’s editors and reporters and their colleagues at other newspapers had been more adversarial toward this President, as they were with President Bush, they would been treated with far more respect. The AP should wish for a return of the days of a Republican administration, which considered the press a worthy adversary, rather than a servant to be mistreated at will…” – John Yoo

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/On-the-AP-Justice-Department-Story

workingclass artist on May 14, 2013 at 11:52 AM

So four dead Americans weren’t enough to get Carl off his fat butt but a shot at the liberal media has him exorcized? Welcome to the club buddy, a bit late aren’t you?

jnelchef on May 14, 2013 at 12:01 PM

Let’s face it, when push comes to shove, the leftwing media would choose a leftist dictatorship over a Republican victory. They’ll stamp their feet a little to let Obama know he got a little too close on this one but they will go back to sleep on his lap before too long.

jnelchef on May 14, 2013 at 12:04 PM

Welcome to the party pal.

Jack_Burton on May 14, 2013 at 12:27 PM

Fox news just said that Holder has recused himself from the investigation into the phone records seizure. Said it may mean that Holder did not sign off on it.

jffree1 on May 14, 2013 at 12:34 PM

Knee jerk reaction of a dictator… yawn… His reporter butt-buds don’t mind having their ‘love letters’ spied on.

RalphyBoy on May 14, 2013 at 12:47 PM

Amazing isn’t it, how upset the media gets when it’s their ox being gored.

hachiban on May 14, 2013 at 1:05 PM

the attorney general would have had to sign off on a request to wire tap the ap phones.

2012chuck on May 14, 2013 at 1:25 PM

I don’t recall the GOP treating the press as a “worthy adversary.” The Zombie Press is concerned only the progressive side, because they too are progtards.

I call them the Zombie press because they have less use than a Corpse. At least a corpse can be used for medical research and training. The Press Corpse is utterly useless these days, unless you are a Progtard politician.

Quartermaster on May 14, 2013 at 2:21 PM

Dear Carl,

I have attended many events at which you and/or your colleague – Bob Woodward – have spoken. I’ve been a fan for many years. Sadly, I am left with the sense that your questioning intellect lacks balance in the sense that you are less willing to question those whom you like or whose ideology is one that you perceive as similar to yours.

I expected more. You should have, too.

The signs that the current occupant of the White House and his supporters are all about power – not hope, not change – were there during the first election when there were threats to jail those who said “bad things” about the candidate. You recognized similar abuses of power in 70′s. Unfortunately, you completely missed it this time.

Here’s hoping that the tapping of the AP’s phone lines will lead to your personal reformation. To paraphrase my friend Sam, “there’s no such thing as a bad questions, there are just bad answers.”

And ALL questions should be on the table . . . at all times.

EB

EdmundBurke247 on May 14, 2013 at 2:36 PM

I wonder if the media will start connecting dots between this and Benghazi, and the IRS scandals, and Operation Fast and Furious, and …

No. The MSM created Obama and they will protect their reputations by protecting Obama.

BMF on May 14, 2013 at 4:49 PM

So, Carl’s bull finally got gored.

Barnestormer on May 14, 2013 at 5:01 PM

If the Obama administration is doing this to one of its biggest cheerleaders, I can only imagine what it’s secretly doing to conservative media.

Time for conservative journalists to have face to face meetings with contacts in parks, safe houses, and inside cars with heavily tinted windows in parking lots.

It’s time for PKI to be embedded in phones and emails because you can no longer trust the government–actually, you haven’t been able to trust the government for a long time now.

BMF on May 15, 2013 at 7:34 AM

We should also check if DOJ was tapping SCOTUS too, especially around the time of the Obamacare impossible-to-fathom ruling. This president openly attacked them, so you can probably assume his minions were using the full power of the government to make sure they were one step ahead of deliberations.

I’m not saying this happened, but you have to admit the pattern of intimidation is there.

virgo on May 15, 2013 at 10:21 AM

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