Closed captioning of: Ethics group defends ‘despicable’ Edwards
>>>
john edwards
is getting surprising help with his
criminal defense
. an ethics group plans to urge a judge to drop the charges against him. lisa meyeymyers is here in washington.
>>
good morning, ann. it grabs your attention when a group expose ed dedicated to
political corruption
takes his defense.
john edwards
used illegal campaign contributions to cover up his affair and child with r rielle hunter. the trial in
north carolina
is delayed until january so
edwards
' lawyers can go through 400,000 pages of investigation so it won't interrupt his oldest daughter kate's wedding to her sweetheart. cities for ethical responsibility
will call
for the case to be dismissed.
>>
i think the case is ridiculous frankly.
>> reporter:
melanie sloan
heads the organization. your group usually goes after political scoundrels. why not earth would you be siding with a disgraced politician like
john edwards
?
>>
it is hard to come to the defense to somebody as despicable as
john edwards
yet in this case the
justice department
is taking a novel and aggressive prosecution you have to wonder why they're doing this.
>> reporter:
the government says two wealthy donors provided almost $1 million to hide a pregant hunter from voters a.d
>>
if you take away the seedy nature and bullet it down to essence it's a typical fraud case.
>> reporter:
edwards
' lawyers want the case thrown out saying it's unprecedented and politically motivated.
>>
i'm
george
holding and running for congress.
>> reporter:
u.s. attorney
george
holding oversaw the
edwards
case and quit his job to run for congress weeks after
edwards
was charged. now
edwards
claims his long time adversary brought him down for political gain.
george
holding told us that he can't comment on an ongoing case, and
edwards
continues to maintain that he did not break the law. many veteran prosecutors believe this case will end with some kind of plea deal, ann, because both sides have a strong incentive to avoid a trial.
>>
lisa myers
, thank you for keeping an eye on all
“ ”