John Edwards Trial Continues: Lawyer Says Edwards Knew Money Was For His Benefit

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The lawyer for a wealthy heiress who provided secret payments intended to help John Edwards testified Friday that the former presidential candidate acknowledged the money had been given for his benefit.

Alex D. Forger said that Edwards' then-lawyer Wade Smith told him in the fall of 2008 that the former candidate agreed that the $725,000 given by 101-year-old Rachel "Bunny" Mellon had been provided to help him. It wasn't clear from Forger's testimony at Edwards' criminal trial precisely when Edwards learned about the checks given to his aide, Andrew Young.

Some of Mellon's money was used to hide Edwards' pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008. Whether Edwards had knowledge of the cover-up is a key question in his prosecution on charges related to campaign finance corruption.

Edwards has denied knowing about the secret payments from Mellon. Young testified last week his former boss directed the scheme from the start.

Forger, a semi-retired attorney from New York City, has helped manage Mellon's financial affairs for decades. With a shock of white hair and bushy eyebrows, Forger didn't disclose his age on the witness stand but said he has practiced estate and trust law for more than 60 years.

His voice still deep and strong, he recounted the 2008 conversation with Smith, a long-practicing North Carolina defense lawyer who had years earlier hired a novice Edwards at his Raleigh firm.

Forger said that in the fall of 2008, Smith and Charlotte defense lawyer Jim Cooney called him to give a "heads up" that federal investigators had launched a probe into Edwards' presidential campaign.

Forger told the lawyers working for Edwards that he had been concerned for months about $725,000 in checks from Mellon that had been written to a Charlotte interior designer and labeled as being for chairs, tables and bookcases. Forger had learned those checks were endorsed by the designer and then deposited into an account controlled by Andrew Young.

Forger also knew Young was a fundraiser for Edwards, and was concerned about whether his client had violated any laws. Individual contributions to political candidates were then limited to $2,300 an election cycle.

"I knew Mrs. Mellon was not buying furniture," Forger testified. "Was this a scam? Was this a criminal matter where funds had been siphoned off from her? I didn't know."

Forger said he asked the Edwards lawyer whether his client agreed the money was intended for his benefit. Smith replied that he didn't know but would find out.

A short time later, Smith called back.

"'Yes, John acknowledges now that these were for his benefit,'" Forger quoted Smith as saying.

Prosecutor Bobby Higdon then immediately suggested the judge recess for the weekend, thereby denying Edwards' defense team their opportunity to cross examine Forger until Monday.

Smith represented Edwards until October 2011, when federal prosecutors informed him they intended to call him as a witness at Edwards' trial. Cooney withdrew from Edwards' defense team in March and was later named as a potential witness for the defense.

Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Forger said he first learned about the money Mellon was sending the interior designer in October 2007, when a banker called to say there were insufficient funds in a personal account to cover the $150,000 sum.

Forger said he questioned Mellon about the check, and she told him the money was really "for the benefit of John Edwards." Forger knew Mellon, who rarely leaves her expansive Virginia estate, was an admirer of Edwards. She had already given millions to organizations supporting the presidential candidate, who was then campaigning in early primary states for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

"She said she was impressed with Mr. Edwards and thought he would make a fine president, reminiscent of her good friend John F. Kennedy," Forger testified.

Dogged by tabloid reports about his affair, Edwards was forced to withdraw from the race in January 2008. In the following months, it also became clear he also wouldn't be the Democratic nominee for vice president, as he had been four years earlier.

The following May, Forger attended an event with Edwards and his wife at a New York art gallery. Forger said when he asked him about the checks the former candidate suggested they step outside for a private conversation. Forger asked Edwards if he knew Bryan Huffman, to whom the checks had been written. Edwards denied he knew the interior designer.

In fact, Edwards had met Huffman more than a year earlier at Mellon's estate. Huffman also testified earlier this week that Edwards had called him several times, including that very month.

Forger spoke with Edwards about the checks again that summer, after the candidate had been caught by tabloid reporters visiting his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and the baby for which he still denied paternity at a Beverly Hills hotel.

Edwards then said he had no idea his aide, who had been helping take care of Hunter for more than a year, had asked Mellon for the $725,000. He apologized and suggested Young should have to repay the money.

On the witness stand Thursday, Huffman, 48, described himself as the elderly millionaire's "evening friend" – someone she calls for a chat before bedtime. He testified about participating in a scheme where checks were written to the interior designer with notations such as "Antique Charleston Table" in the memo line. Huffman would endorse them and pass them along to Young.

He said the ruse was invented by Mellon to throw off her family money managers, including Forger, by making it appear they were engaged in a furniture business.

On Friday, the congenial Charlotte designer testified about how Mellon reacted after learning some of her money had gone to the cover up. He said Mellon was not one to judge someone for having an extramarital affair. Her relationship with her first husband overlapped with that of her second.

But, Huffman said, Mellon had an opinion about how her money was spent.

"She thought maybe you should probably pay for your girlfriend yourself," Huffman replied.

As the courtroom erupted in laughter, even the former North Carolina senator seated at the defense table cracked a smile.

___

Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Below, a slideshow of the most intriguing revelations from Rielle Hunter in a 2010

Loading Slideshow

• Love At First Sight?

  "And when they left, my friend went over and asked Tony if that was John Edwards, and he said yes. And my friend turned to me and said, 'See, I told you it was John Edwards.' And then I came over to the table, and I said, 'I can't believe that was John Edwards; he's so hot. He's really got it going on. He's got something unusual about him, and I never would have recognized him.' And Tony said, 'Oh, my God, you should have come over and told him that. He would have loved to have heard that.'"

• An Extraordinary Night

  "We had an extraordinary night, and I did know that this was unlike anything either of us had ever experienced. And as we have all learned, that was accurate! [laughs] He in fact did say to me the first night, 'Falling in love with you could really [screw] up my plans for becoming President.' And of course I said, 'If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.'"

• The Oddest Connection He Had Ever Felt

  "Well, what Johnny later told me was, he went to dinner and could not stop thinking about me, like, 'Who was that woman, and why didn't I go over and talk to her?' ... So when he walked around the corner and saw me standing there, he lit up like a Christmas tree. And I thought his reaction when he saw me was just so cute. I mean, he looked like a little kid at Christmas. And I just uttered to him, 'You're so hot.' And he said, 'Why, thank you!' And he almost jumped into my arms. Literally. And um, that's how we met. On the corner of 61st and Park Avenue."

• 'I Had To Sleep With Him'

  "I used to make a joke that I could have helped save the world, but I had to sleep with him. You know? It was kind of like that."

• Falling In Love

  "I fell in love with Johnny ... He called me the next day. We talked on the phone almost every night for four hours. We met on February 21. On February 25—on the phone, from Davenport, Iowa—I fell in love with him. Head over heels in love. I was a goner."

• Here's ... Johnny!

  "Isn't that funny? You know, when I first met him, the first week of our relationship, I said to him, 'For some reason I cannot call you John, it doesn't come out. Could I call you Johnny?' And he said, 'That's my name.' And I didn't know that, but that's his actual birth name."

• Knight In Shining Armor?

  "I had this thing in my head like a lot of women, where you want your man to stand up on a cliff and scream, 'I LOVE HER.' You know, the knight in shining armor. And that wasn't what was going on."

• On Her Relationship Status

  "I am not engaged."

• Why She's Talking Now

  "I feel comfortable talking now, because Johnny went public and made a statement admitting paternity. I didn't feel like I could ever speak until he did that. Because had I spoken, I would have emasculated him. And I could not emasculate him. Also, it is not my desire to teach my daughter that when Mommy's upset with Daddy, you take matters into your own hands and fix Daddy's mistakes. Which I view as one of the biggest problems in all female-and-male relationships."

• Not A Gold Digger

  "I mean, just for starters, I never 'hit on' Johnny. I'm not a predator, I'm not a gold digger, I'm not the stalker. I didn't have any power in that way in our relationship. He held all the power."

• 'The Wrath Of Elizabeth Is A Mighty Wrath'

  "And I believe what happened in his marriage is, he could not go to his wife and say, 'We have an issue.' Because he would be pummeled. So he had a huge fear. Most of his mistakes or errors in judgment were because of his fear of the wrath of Elizabeth. He's allowed himself to be pushed into a lot of things that he wouldn't normally do because of Elizabeth's story line. And the spin that she wants to put out there. He was emasculated. And you know, the wrath of Elizabeth is a mighty wrath."

• 'I Was A Bit Promiscuous'

  "I was never, as it's been reported, a drug addict. The word addiction means inability to stop. I stopped doing drugs in my twenties. As for being promiscuous, I would say that I was a bit promiscuous for about six months. But it was because I was partying, and there were a lot of very good-looking available 20-year-old men around that you'd be partying with, and there was a lot of, you know, hooking up going on."

• A Toxic Relationship

  "[Elizabeth] was in denial about a lot of facts. And I say she was in denial because, you know, their relationship has been dysfunctional and toxic and awful for many, many years. And she was aware of, um, problems and chose to ignore them."

• 'I Don't Really Believe He Was A Politician'

  "Well, I don't really believe he was a politician. I believe his ego and ambition drove him to that field. I believe he's more aligned with being a humanitarian. That suits his true nature. Just like I wasn't a mistress. You know, I'm not a mistress, but I played the role? I believe he played the role of a politician. It's not who he is. Being a politician was a path of transformation for him, I believe. It's not really what he was put on the planet to do."

• Not A 'Home Wrecker'

  "And, well, first of all, infidelity doesn't happen in healthy marriages. The break in the marriage happens before the infidelity. And that break happened, you know, two and a half decades before I got there. So the home was wrecked already. I was not the Home Wrecker."

• Naming Frances Quinn Hunter

  "Her name is Frances Quinn Hunter, and I love the name Frances. Johnny wasn't over the moon about Frances. So I was coming up with names, and Quinn is a name that I loved, and that was the only name that he thought was cool. And so I named her Quinn because Daddy really liked it."

• Was Andrew Young In Love With Edwards?

  "Andrew [Young] was in love with Johnny...In love with him. Beyond. And I believe he loved Johnny more than he loved Cheri. So Johnny was the third person in their relationship. And I'm sure she hates Johnny, because Andrew took a lot of obvious actions that were for Johnny and not for Cheri. But Cheri went along with them. And they both have a way of spinning things. But a lot of their motivation is money."

Comments

[rocky7]

11:05 AM on 05/06/2012

Peole really dont seem too interested in facts or nuances of the law, do they? They just want to moralize, sermonize, demonize a liberal. First if Mrs Mellon gave an illegal campaign donation, why is she not being charged with anything? Its not because she is a billionaire and 101. Its because the $750k involved was a series of GIFTS and not a political donation. She did not make out any checks, in this case, to Edwards political cause. She did contribute $ to this separately at a different time, but these are not in question. Because she paid the $ in question in a dubious fashion thru her decorator, it makes it look suspect. She did this for her own reasons having to do with her financial advisors and keeping them from knowing her private business, not secretly funnelling it to Edwards for clandestine reasons. MRS MELLON PAID THE GIFT TAXES ON THESE GIFTS TO THE IRS. THE IRS IS NOT PURSUING ANY CHARGES AGAINST HER AS THIS WAS A LEGAL TRANSFER OF $ VIA A GIFT. GOT IT? Did Edwards know? Yes, Was Bunny Mellon a fool? Yes. Is John Edwards a scum because he cheated on his wife? Yes, Is this a chargeable offense warranting prison time? NO The government is charging that even tho it was a personal gift, because he used some of the $ to hide his girfriend,it indirectly helped his campaign, thus it really was used as a campaign contribtion.

[nokaoi]

08:49 PM on 05/06/2012

i haven't look at the law, but understand , the issue as being was he using it for private reasons or to further his campaign aspirations. i can not believe edwards and his defense team think it was only to protect his wife...and not to save his public image.

[dennidus1680]

08:45 AM on 05/07/2012

And is their a law against using your own money, gift or not, for your own campaign or anything else you want? Seems like a tempest in a tea cup to me.

[Anneanneanne]

05:06 AM on 05/06/2012

To: eeverettm

President Barack Obama is nothing like John Edwards or Bill Clinton. He's a great man, husband, and father. Yes, he's handsome, but he doesn't have a big, inflated ego.

[Amanda Matthews]

06:21 AM on 05/07/2012

Obama is just a bad as the two above. He's just lucky that Willard is worse.

[dennidus1680]

08:48 AM on 05/07/2012

They are all just as bad. Why is it though that Democrats get nailed and Republicans walk free? This is like calling Elliott Spitzer's call girl shenanigans, that he did with his own money, mail fraud, to black mail him into resigning. The sheriff of wall street had to be eliminated.

[Anneanneanne]

05:03 AM on 05/06/2012

Why do these politicians think they are above the law? If justice isn't served, it'll happen again.

[Anneanneanne]

04:44 AM on 05/06/2012

John Edwards ruined his family life and career over a piece of as-. Stupid, disgusting, and that was the thanks he gave to Elizabeth Edwards who stood by him for better or worse. Shame, shame, shame.

[jherbord1]

02:48 AM on 05/06/2012

It's the crapper for this "rapper."

[snsndse]

02:10 AM on 05/06/2012

Just reading about this mess makes me sick to my stomack. Obviously Edwards thinks the American voters are stupid and he is so SMART.

[ladybost]

01:23 AM on 05/06/2012

i have a hard time condeming this man when the super pack mess is a mess and makes almost EVERYONE A CROOK

[RealPolotik]

10:11 AM on 05/07/2012

Individual donations cannot be more than 2500$...no problem! Let us just create some group that has no other function than to accept money from individuals in any amount and then this group (not an individual mind you), will give millions, maybe billions someday to candidates. And Obama was going to close the loopholes....

[ladybost]

01:21 AM on 05/13/2012

i am not a fan of super paks but there is only so much obama can do in 8 years

[florencebrady]

12:35 AM on 05/06/2012

May I ask a personal favor from all the "super" liberals who read this and support Edwards.

Can you honestly say if the facts (regarding the affair) were EXACTLY the same, but the politician was a Republican that you would NOT want him to be found guilty?

[roshni]

10:50 PM on 05/11/2012

I have not supported Edwards through this. That is what makes liberals different. They call out their own when warranted.

[florencebrady]

11:55 PM on 05/11/2012

Roshni

That reflect well on YOU personally and I thank you.

But I have asked this question before and very many people (from both parties) do NOT or can NOT think for themselves.

For every IMHO honorable response like yours there's a dozen who answer the question by writing about some horrible thing a Republican has done.

[florencebrady]

12:26 AM on 05/06/2012

Would Bunny Mellon have given her "friend" John Edwards almost a million dollars to hide an affair from his wife if her were a private citizen?

I don't think so. Its tied to the campaign---always and forever.

[Jon106]

11:25 PM on 05/05/2012

Looks like the governments is failing to make their case.

[watsonkb]

03:23 AM on 05/06/2012

No, it is obvious to all. However, that being said, it is also obvious that rich defendents get away with murder.

[bmitche]

10:00 PM on 05/05/2012

You're not listening to all this are you Elizabeth? Are you Elizabeth ?

[insrob]

09:59 PM on 05/05/2012

They try to take the law for the joke that it is.... who has $700,000.00 checks, or any other form of income over $500,000.00, being sent to you, and you don't have any idea where it came from? Were not talkin a few hundred buck contribution here! As an attorney, he must realize this is purgery, to testify he did'nt know where the money came from. Guess love makes you delusional, as well as blind. Come on Edwards council, are you going for the incompetent attorney defense? Might as well, even a blind and deaf( no offense) juror would find this a little hard to believe!

[Kar Kirshner]

09:40 PM on 05/05/2012

There is a typo in my comment. I DID NOT INTEND FOR MY CONTRIBUTION TO GO TO EDWARDS FOR PERSONAL USE. IT WAS FOR HIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT, NOT FOR HIS OWN PERSONAL USES. I DEMAND MY $250 BACK.

[susangale]

09:37 PM on 05/05/2012

who stands up for Elizabeth Edwards?? not her daughter Cate who runs from the courtroom so her father doesn't have to be shamed with her there. She should stay and listen to every ugly bit of testimony for her mothers sake and to support her memory. It was her mothers reality and her life horrible as it was. It could be any women's nightmare........ Someone who loved her should bear witness to it............every day,to every humiliating moment Elizabeth endured.

[insrob]

10:03 PM on 05/05/2012

Good comment susangate! F&F.. You do, and others like you that keep the spirit of Elizabeth alive. The people on the jury have not forgotten Elizabeth, you watch and see, it will have a major effect on the jurors decision! :)

[insrob]

10:11 PM on 05/05/2012

Forgot to mention the lord spoke up pretty loud when he took her from us! He spared her the humility of having to sit by her man?? during the ugly testimony. Would she have testified in his behalf? or against! Well never know for sure, but heavon has another Angel !

[ljn618]

06:28 PM on 05/05/2012

How on earth could a person (with a conscience) not be responsible for all his transgressions.
I think he has a mental problem that hopefully a team of psychistrists can determine. He is so "off the wall" --

[masanddjs]

07:27 PM on 05/05/2012

It's called narcissistic personality disorder

[watsonkb]

03:27 AM on 05/06/2012

And it describes a MULTITUDE of politicians, from BOTH parties!

[masanddjs]

08:40 AM on 05/06/2012

A person with narcissistic personality disorder may:
•React to criticism with rage, shame, or humiliation
•Take advantage of other people to achieve his or her own goals
•Have excessive feelings of self-importance
•Be preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, intelligence, or ideal love
•Have unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment
•Need constant attention and admiration
•Disregard the feelings of others, and have little ability to feel empathy
•Have obsessive self-interest
•Pursue mainly selfish goals