JOHN EDWARDS legal team fires up the old Col. Klink defense stratagem “I KNOW NOTHING” in presidential conspiracy trial as shocking new testimony illustrates ELIZABETH EDWARDS’ rage.
Vet Dem pollster Harrison Hickman testified for Edwards' defense, describing a man who feared his wife's temper especially regarding his affair with mistress Rielle Hunter. "I don't mean to say this in a disparaging way. It was volcanic,” Hickman told jurors. “She could get upset about things, but she was really upset about THIS.
"She kept saying I don't want to be humiliated. I don't want my kids to have to deal with this," Hickman recalled Elizabeth Edwards saying.
Hickman, told jurors that he quickly advised Edwards his 2008 presidential hopes were doomed as THE ENQUIRER exposed the truth. He also said that Edwards "acquiesced to Elizabeth Edwards making decisions. She took the lead and he deferred to her."
BUT after three weeks of explosive testimony from the prosecution, the defense switched the focus from the disgraced two-time presidential loser's web of shameful deceit to monetary minutiae.
Edwards' 2008 campaign chief financial officer Lora Haggard testified that Federal Election Commission (FEC) auditors decided that the hush money Edwards received from wealthy donors to cover up his affair with mistress Rielle Hunter did NOT need to be reported in the campaign's financial disclosure reports.
"They are not contributions to the campaign because they were not contributions to urge the public to vote for John Edwards," she testified.
Haggard also said that the former presidential candidate was never involved in formulating, filling out or filing campaign finance reports that were sent to the FEC because he wasn’t present – as he was hitting the campaign trail HARD.
As The ENQUIRER first reported in a five year exhaustive investigation the feds’ case centers around nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions from late Dallas money man Fred Baron and 102-year-old Listerine heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon to fund a conspiracy of silence.
PROSECUTION SHOVES EDWARDS LIES IN HIS FACE
Prosecution witnesses had testified that Edwards keep the payoffs coming as he was still angling for a VP slot or appointment as Attorney General.
With John Edwards' experience as a cagey trial lawyer, his defense comes down to an exacting interpretation of federal law and the definitions of two key words — "the" and “purpose”.
John Edwards may testify in his own defense as the dramatic final witness in his federal corruption trial, lawyers revealed yesterday. The defense officially added him to the list of potential witnesses expected to take the stand before they rest by week’s end.
His lawyer daughter, Cate Edwards, 30, will take the stand as a defense witness.
