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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 3 (UPI) -- Two-time presidential hopeful John Edwards told a federal judge and the curious in North Carolina Friday he did not use campaign funds to hide an affair. Edwards' attorney, Greg Craig, entered a not guilty plea on Edwards' behalf in the federal courthouse at Winston-Salem, CNN reported.
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"There's no question that I've done wrong and I take full responsibility for having done wrong," Edwards told a crowd of onlookers and reporters in a statement after the hearing. "But I did not break the law, and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law."
He was released on his own recognizance, with conditions that included surrendering his passport, remain in the lower 48 states and staying away from political backer Bunny Mellon, 100, one of the donors connected to the case.
Several hours before appearing in court, Craig said the prosecution was "unprecedented" in either criminal or civil court.
"He did not break the law," Craig told reporters, "and will mount a vigorous defense."
No one, especially Edwards, knew or should have known that the payments should have been treated as campaign contributions, Craig said.
The six-count federal indictment, released earlier Friday, alleges Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, used contributions from political backers to hide his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter, then lied about it.
The indictment charged Edwards with one count of conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of making false statements.
Sources say the affair began in early 2006. Records indicate Hunter was hired later that year by Edwards' campaign as a videographer as he prepared for his 2008 presidential bid.
"A centerpiece of Edwards' candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man," the indictment read. "The communication strategy developed by Edwards' campaign stressed the importance of publicizing, among other things, 'that [Edwards'] family comes first.'"
In interviews with WTDV-TV, Raleigh, former Edwards aide Andrew Young said when Hunter became pregnant in 2007, he and his wife helped hide her from media by using campaign contributions.
Young has said he took care of Hunter during and after the campaign. He said he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from Edwards backer Bunny Mellon, widow of banking heir Paul Mellon, and from Edwards campaign finance head Fred Baron, who died in 2008.
Hunter's child was born in February 2008, a month after Edwards dropped out of the race.
At first, Edwards denied involvement with Hunter but then admitted to it in the summer of 2008. He also denied being the father of her child before acknowledging paternity that same year.
Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in December. The couple had separated before her death.
Among other things, the indictment said Edwards accepted campaign contributions that exceeded federal election law limits and concealed the contributions by filing "false and misleading" campaign reports with the Federal Election Commission.
The purpose of the conspiracy was to "protect and advance" Edwards' presidential candidacy by "secretly obtaining and using hundreds of thousands of dollars" to conceal the affair and the pregnancy, the indictment read.
"Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and pregnancy would destroy his candidacy by, among other things, undermining Edwards' presentation of himself as a family man," the indictment said.
