Edwards Denies Breaking Campaign Finance Laws

Reuters reports:

Former presidential candidate John Edwards, under criminal investigation for alleged campaign finance law violations to hide an extramarital affair, did not break the law, his attorney said on Wednesday.

"The government's theory is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law. It is novel and untested. There is no civil or criminal precedent for such a prosecution," Gregory Craig, an attorney for Edwards, said.

Edwards, 57, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina and a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008, has been under investigation for more than two years, legal sources said. He could face criminal charges as early as next week.

Much of the investigation centered on whether Edwards illegally spent campaign contributions to hide his affair with one-time campaign videographer Rielle Hunter and whether more than $1 million from supporters to keep her hidden amounted to illegal campaign contributions, they said.

Edwards eventually admitted the affair and that he fathered a child with Hunter.

"John Edwards has done wrong in his life -- and he knows it better than anyone, but he did not break the law. " said Craig, who now is in private law practice after serving as White House counsel for President Barack Obama.