NBC reports charges may be near for Edwards

NBC News is reporting this morning that charges may be near in the marathon federal investigation of former Democratic U.S. Sen. John Edwards.

Prosecutors are believed to have been looking into whether Edwards, a former vice presidential candidate, violated campaign laws in covering up his affair with Rielle Hunter, a former campaign videographer who now lives in Charlotte.

The federal grand jury in Raleigh that's heard evidence in the case isn't scheduled to meet again until March. But NBC reported the 2-year-old investigation is at "a decisive point."


"Sources close to the investigation say Justice Department attorneys are now conducting a final review of evidence, and an indictment could come within days or weeks," the network said. "In what could be an ominous development for Edwards, prosecutors already are making arrangements to record the sworn
testimony of a key witness for possible use in a future trial, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"'It would be surprising now if he wasn't indicted,' said Stephen Saltsburg, a former federal prosecutor and George Washington University law professor. 'If John Edwards was aware that the money was being paid to hide his mistress .... and it was done to help his campaign, then he's in trouble'."


Edwards attorney, Wade Smith of Raleigh, told NBC that he doesn't believe "there is evidence that John violated any election laws."

Prosecutors reportedly plan to record the testimony of 100-year-old Rachel "Bunny" Mellon. Former Edwards aide Andrew Young -- who once claimed paternity of Edwards' child with Hunter -- has written that the wealthy Mellon gave $700,000 that was used for Hunter's living expenses. He called it "Bunny money."

Andrew Young: Elizabeth Edwards 'not facing the facts and not taking responsibility'

It's no secret that there's little love lost between Elizabeth Edwards and her husband John' s former aide, Andrew Young. Now Young has responded to Edwards' appearance Wednesday on the "Today" show.

Answering a question from Matt Lauer, Edwards dismissed Young's tell-all book, "The Politician."

"I wasn't particularly worried about anything Andrew Young said," she told Lauer. "His -- I don't mind saying that his book is just -- it's not that he didn't have a good story to tell, he did. But it's so filled with lies that ... I don't consider it having any bearing whatsoever on the truth, particularly with respect to me."

Young responded in an email to the Observer.

"As much as I admire Elizabeth's resilience and understand her pain, I am disappointed that she
is not yet facing the truth about the scandal that hurt so many people, and our country. She is not facing the facts and not taking responsibility for her role in constructing the myth of John Edwards and enabling him to carry on a terrible deception. Instead she continues to blame others and presents versions of events that are distorted. This approach -- an attempt to manufacture reality and deny responsibility -- set the stage for the Edwards debacle and only makes people feel even more cynical about our leaders and politics as it is practiced today.

"Having admitted she has not read my book, Elizabeth nevertheless declared it is inaccurate and false and that I present myself as a hero. Anyone who has read The Politician, or has seen me discuss my mistakes and failures in many interviews knows that I do not consider myself a hero. I am a man trying to share what I have learned about politics, human nature, and myself with the hope that the truth will benefit us all.

"Because of performances like yesterday, people are too quick to write this scandal off as just a soap opera. But there are powerful lessons that John and Elizabeth could teach this country, not about the two Americas - that opportunity is gone. But they could help us learn about the allure of the White House, the pitfalls of being in a position of such great power and how we can improve the current election system so a scandal like this doesn't jeopardize the presidency again."

Unflattering book on Edwards due out Feb. 2

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards doesn't have long to wait for the book he isn't waiting for.

"The Politician" will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on Feb. 2, according to Amazon.com. The author is Andrew Young, the one-time aide who claimed to have fathered the daughter of Edwards' ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter. Published accounts of Young's book proposal have said Young admits taking the fall for his former boss.

Here's how Amazon describes the book: "The underside of modern American politics -- raw ambition, manipulation, and deception -- are revealed in detail by Andrew Young’s riveting account of a presidential hopeful’s meteoric rise and scandalous fall. Like a non-fiction version of All the King’s Men, The Politician offers a truly disturbing, even shocking perspective on the risks taken and tactics employed by a man determined to rule the most powerful nation on earth ...

"Young had been the senator’s closest aide and most trusted friend. He believed that John Edwards could be a great president, and was assured throughout the cover-up that his boss and friend would ultimately step forward to both tell the truth and protect his aide’s career. Neither promise was kept. Not only a moving personal account of Andrew Young’s political education, THE POLITICIAN offers a look at the trajectory which made John Edwards the ideal Democratic candidate for president, and the hubris which brought him down, leaving his career, his marriage and his dreams in ashes."

UPDATED: What goes around comes around: Young is scheduled to talk about the book Jan. 29 on ABC's 20-20 with Bob Woodruff. Last August on ABC's "Nightline," Edwards categorically denied to Woodruff that he fathered Rielle Hunter's baby. "Absolutely not true," he said.

Young will also appear on ABC's Good Morning America on Feb. 2.

Sex, lies -- and videotape?

More news today on the Carolinas' resident bad boys.

-- S.C. Republican Gov. Mark Sanford continues to fend off calls for his resignation following his admission of an affair with an Argentine woman and his use of state money to visit her a few years ago. Now a York County Republican says he's planning a tea party-size rally next week if the governor is still there.

Glenn McCall, chairman of the York County GOP and one of the state's two national party committeemen, says he wants GOP legislators to rise up and demand Sanford's resignation. If the governor refuses, McCall and others have already talked about organizing a rally at the Capitol next week to pressure him to step down.

"We’re just calling on our elected officials to be statesmen," he says, "and let's stop playing politics and do the right thing for the state of South Carolina and for the Republican Party.... It's not about the governor anymore. It's bigger. It's about the state of South Carolina."

-- Five years to the day after being picked to be John Kerry's 2004 running mate, former N.C. Sen. John Edwards was back in the news -- for an alleged sex tape.

Last year former aide Andrew Young claimed to be the father of Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter's baby. He has been peddling a book to N.Y. publishers. Monday the New York Daily News reported that Young's book will claim that not only is Edwards the baby's father, but that
Young found a purported sex tape involving the former Democratic presidential candidate.

Stay tuned. Or not.