Pretty sad, really. How many of us thought he was different?
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.
He's got a court appearance at 2:30 today, literally one block from me.
UPDATE: To be honest, having read the indictment (here), I'm not sure it is the strongest case. The case seems to turn on whether the money used to hide the mistress/baby qualified as “contributions” to, or “expenditures” on behalf of, the Edwards campaign within the meaning of 2 U.S.C. §§ 431(8) & (9). Edwards might be able to argue that the money was an "independant expenditure" which was not designed to influence the outcome of the election (as opposed to, say, advertising dollars). He might be able to win on that argument.
Also, here's the strange story about how the controversy over Edwards' $400 haircut led to today's indictment.