"Federal prosecutors and John Edwards' lawyers argued in secret for months over how campaign finance law deals with gifts and third-party payments.
This area of the law would be at the core of a prosecution of the former North Carolina senator and two-time presidential candidate, according to new information obtained by The News & Observer. The two-year probe could turn into criminal charges this week unless there is a plea deal.
The main questions in a criminal case would be whether payments to Edwards' mistress and a campaign staffer were intended to keep his 2008 campaign alive, and whether he knew about them - substantive legal issues aside from the Edwards soap opera, which includes the affair while seeking the presidency as his wife battled cancer, conceiving a child with the mistress, and publicly denying paternity as an aide, Andrew Young, claimed it."
Feds, Edwards argue over campaign finance law
NewsObserver.com:
