Prosecutors rest case against ex-Sen. John Edwards

Prosecutors rested their case against disgraced ex-Sen. John Edwards Thursday, after presenting nearly three weeks of evidence and two dozen witnesses to prove that the cheating Edwards violated campaign finance laws in order to hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 presidential bid.

The government’s case ended with Prosecutors playing a video of a national TV interview Edwards gave in August, 2008, during which the married politician said he wanted to tell the truth about his lengthy affair with videographer Rielle Hunter.

Edwards lied to Nightline reporter Bob Woodruff, denying paternity of the child he fathered with Hunter.

Edwards finally admitted to fathering the child in 2010, though the former North Carolina senator claims he knew nothing about money having been used to hide his mistress as he was seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

“Nothing has been done at my request,” he told Woodruff in the interview. “I had nothing to do with any money being paid.”

Earlier in the day on Thursday, a former Edwards adviser testified that even while the two-time presidential candidate’s career crumpled, he dreamed of an appointment to the Supreme Court.

The government accuses Edwards of soliciting more than $900,000 in illegal campaign contributions from two wealthy supporters in an effort to conceal Hunter’s pregnancy from voters.

Edwards’ defense says the supporters’ payments were meant to shield the affair from his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, not to influence the election. The defense will begin its case Monday.

(With Reuters)