say what? John Edwards defense: prosecution theory OKs campaign-paid abortions
Sen. John Edwards's defense team is arguing that the prosecution's interpretation of campaign finance law could lead to a wide array of personal expenses being paid for by campaigns and by taxpayers, including jewelry or even an abortion for a married candidate's girlfriend.
"Under the government's logic, if spending money to conceal an affair is campaign related because it is spent for 'the purpose of influencing an election,' then presumably a candidate could spend campaign money (including federal taxpayer matching funds) to pay, for example, for his mistress to have an abortion to conceal the affair," the defense team wrote in a legal filing Sunday (posted here).
Since Edwards's indictment last year on charges that he conspired to received illegal campaign contributions in the form of payments his supporters made for his mistress's expenses, the prosecution and defense have been jockeying over where the law draws the line between personal and campaign expenses. Many legal analysts who've been tracking Edwards's trial believe his conviction or acquittal could well ride on how U.S. Dsitrict Court Judge Catherine Eagles instructs the jury on that point.
The defense team rolled out the campaign-paid abortion argument in response to a prosecution request to tell jurors that Edwards could be guilty of receiving illegal campaign contributions even if his 2008 presidential campaign was just one reason among many for the payments covering his mistress Rielle Hunter's bills at luxury hotels and the rental of a multi-million-dollar home
in California. Hunter was pregnant at the time and gave birth to Quinn, Edwards's daughter, in February 2008.
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http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/05/john-edwards-defense-prosecution-theory-oks-campaignpaid-123357.html
