John Edwards' legal team opens defense

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 14, 2012 | David Zucchino

[libstripper]

GREENSBORO, N.C. — After weeks of riveting and often salacious testimony about an extramarital affair and the elaborate lies that once kept it hidden, testimony in the John Edwards trial turned Monday to a more prosaic topic: campaign finance law.

As Edwards' legal team opened his defense, the finance director for his failed 2008 presidential run testified that more than $900,000 from two wealthy benefactors was not reported as campaign contributions because it represented private gifts intended for personal expenditures.

Lora Haggard, who supervised reporting to the Federal Election Commission, said the FEC told the Edwards campaign it was not required to report the money on campaign finance reports. The commission maintained this position, she said, even after the former senator was indicted last June.

* * *

Prosecutors objected several times during Haggard's testimony, arguing outside the jury's presence that the FEC opinion was "an end run" irrelevant to the Edwards criminal case. They told U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles that the court and jury, not a defense witness, should decide the matter.

They won a victory when Eagles said she would sharply limit upcoming testimony from former FEC Chairman Scott Thomas. With the jury out of the courtroom, Thomas went through his testimony before the judge, saying the money donated by Mellon and Baron did not qualify as campaign contributions.

Eagles ruled that Thomas would not be permitted to repeat the statement in front of the jury.

[libstripper]

This is in addition to the WSJ op ed by Bradley Smith, which I posted yesterday, that took the same position, i.e., that hush money expenditures like the ones by PDJT that are currently being wrongly and frivolously challenged by the DOJ persecutors (no misspelling) are personal expenditures, not campaign expenses.

[Boogieman]

Seems a bit different, since with Trump he was a candidate paying other people with his own money, while Edwards was a candidate receiving money from other people.

[I-ambush]

Exactly

[UCANSEE2]

Actually, the track they are following is that Cohen paid Stormy Daniels with his own funds, and that he would recover those funds later in some nondescript payments from Trump.

Which is true. However, that is the way it had to be. It wouldn’t be much use to have all parties sign a NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT and then have TRUMP send a PERSONAL CHECK written to STORMY DANIELS. That would negate the whole NDA thing.

Every one of these DEMS know that to be the case. They use it themselves (NDA’s) all the time. BUT, it’s the only thing they’ve got right now, so no matter how hypocritical, they are going with it.

[Ann Archy]

Jim.....is there ANY way we can start some form of protest on FR to MAKE the Congress RELEASE THEIR SLUSH FUND PAYMENTS for the members SEXUAL HARRASSMENT CASES that WE, the TAXPAYERS, PAID FOR!!

HELP...PLEASE!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Ping to Post #5.

Jaz? Is Judicial Watch looking into the Congressional Sex Slush Fund at all?

[libstripper]

Every one of those slush fund payments could be condemned as “an attempt to inluence an election” just as the Trump payments have been.

[Ann Archy]

AMEN!! But we all just sit by and do NOTHING about EXPOSING it!!

[jazusamo]

Here’s a short video from about a year or so ago talking about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qfInDT68Xk

I recall reading Tom Fitton addressing the issue way back but taking a quick look I don’t find any current investigation by JW.

I’ll do some looking and if I find something and let you know.

[Go Gordon]

As Edwards' legal team opened his defense, the finance director for his failed 2008 presidential run testified that more than $900,000 from two wealthy benefactors was not reported as campaign contributions because it represented private gifts intended for personal expenditures.

Did the donors pay the gift tax? The annual federal gift tax exclusion is $15,000 for the 2018 tax year. This is the amount of money that you can give as a gift to one person, in any given year, without having to pay any gift tax.

[ActresponsiblyinVA]

Well said. I will join any protest.

[Saveourcountry]

Even if the cases were EXACTLY the same, Edwards was a Democrat. There is a different set of rules for Democrats. They can do and say anything, pay off their mistresses with taxpayer funds, sell state secrets, drive drunk and drown innocent young women, sell out our country for money with a fake charity, have sex with 19 year old interns in the oval office, be a former leader of the KKK, be otherwise outright racist, etc. etc. etc.

Republicans can be innocent and their lives and livlihoods ruined by innuendo and false allegations. The difference here is party affiliation. Republicans cannot expect equal justice. In fact there is no justice for Republicans. They have pretty much made it illegal to be a Republican.