Gerry Broome
Lawyers for John Edwards requested Tuesday that a federal judge drop criminal charges against the former presidential candidate. In three separate motions, Edwards’s defense team argued that even if everything the prosecutors say about their client is true, he still did not break any laws. They argue that the case against Edwards is unconstitutionally vague and that federal prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by bringing charges against him. In June, federal prosecutors charged Edwards with felony counts related to more than $1 million in undisclosed payments from former political supporters to hide his affair with Rielle Hunter, who gave birth to his daughter in 2008. Edwards’s lawyers said he and his former aide Andrew Young only wanted to hide the affair from his late wife, Elizabeth Edwards, and their three children—not to preserve his political career.