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14 June 2012

John Edwards: DOJ Admits His Innocence, Drops Charges





From Denny:  The word is with several investigations launched - and from many different quarters - breathing down their necks, the DOJ decided to clear their desk and end the political vendetta against former Senator John Edwards.  Are they trying to bury any evidence that would place them in danger of being put in jail for witness and jury tampering?

Law experts all believed it would be months or a couple of years before Edwards could breathe a sigh of relief, anticipating whether or not the DOJ would file a second trial against him after the mistrial on five counts but an acquittal on the major count.

After all, this is one seriously vicious political year and Obama must turn his attention away from savaging fellow Democrats to savaging his contender, Romney.  Romney sure won't spare Obama any slack on the vicious front.  He's a Republican with truckloads of cash suddenly pouring in from Wall Street to help deluge Obama with negative ads.  Democrat donors are fed up with the Obama-Axelrod coalition and the money is just not there for his reelection.

It was a good decision by the DOJ to walk away from more of Stupid.  This was a bad case that was not winnable from anyone's corner.  But then it never was about winning the case; it was about dragging Edwards through the mud to destroy any future chances of running for office or being popular inside the party.  How petty can you get?  Apparently, with this White House the answer is yes, very petty.

The response from Edwards' attorneys, Abbe Lowell, Allison Van Laningham and Alan W. Duncan, about the DOJ decision to dismiss the remaining charges was they were pleased with the decision.  They believed a second trial would have created the same outcome.

They said, "While John has repeatedly admitted to his sins, he has also consistently asserted, as we demonstrated at the trial, that he did not violate any campaign law nor even imagined that any campaign laws could apply.  We are very glad that, after living under this cloud for over three years, John and his family can have their lives back and enjoy the peace they deserve."




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The statement from the DOJ is most telling.  Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said they knew the campaign finance case would "be challenging.  It is our duty to bring hard cases."

Read that as what he is really saying, "The political vendetta came from the White House and we had to oblige or lose our jobs."  This is one unusually political Department of Justice compared to past administrations.  Actually, they are supposed to be separate from the White House but these guys stepped over the professional line a long time ago as did the Bush era DOJ.

AAG Breuer went on to say, "Last month, the government put forward its best case against Mr. Edwards, and I am proud of the skilled and professional way in which our prosecutors .... conducted this trial."  He also commented about how he respected the jury's judgment and decided not to seek a retrial "in the interest of justice."

Read that reverse trash talk as, "We were furious and totally embarrassed those now disgraced prosecutors made such a mess of this trial, making us look really bad.  Clearly, they did not know what they were doing.  But hey, what can you expect from a pack of flunkies?  We begged 56 other prosecutors to take the case and they all ran like scalded dogs, headed for the hills, because this case was a career ender."

What they were also really saying is this, "We knew Edwards was innocent all along but no one cared about the truth.  We were tasked to destroy him."

Since the trial, many of the jurors have been interviewed.  From juror Curtis Driggers, "It was a weak case.  It was all on witness Andrew Young and he didn't carry much weight with me. If they don't have any more factual information than what they presented, I don't think any other jury would reach a different decision." 

And what did the other jurors have to say?  There was a clear majority in the group that wanted to acquit Edwards on all the charges after deliberating for nine days.  Which is exactly what I predicted.  How could it be any other way when you saw what was happening in court?

Another fact check is that campaign finance experts said that if Edwards did know about money flowing to Hunter, he really was not violating any law.  

Better yet, check out what Melanie Sloan, executive director for campaign watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, "Edwards should never have been charged. No federal candidate had ever before been tried over payments from a third party that flowed to the politician's mistress.  It was a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money.  Now maybe the Justice Department can get back to prosecuting people who actually broke the law."

The real question is this, "Who is going to get serious and prosecute the crooked DOJ, a crooked federal judge in this case, the crooked politicians currently in office and the Wall Street crooks?"




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* * *  Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -   - see what's new!




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