Federal prosecutors have issued a new round of subpoenas in their probe of John Edwards’ campaign finances — giving the investigation seemingly stalled for a year fresh signs of life, the Associated Press reported.
Lawyer Wade Smith told the AP that he learned from other attorneys and sources that several new subpoenas were issued, but declined to discuss who received the subpoenas or what those subpoenas were seeking. Smith did not immediately return a message left by TPMMuckraker, and Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said the department was declining comment.
But according to CNN Producer Raelyn Johnson, prosecutors are casting net “much wider than they did a year ago.”
“They’re talking about people who were schedulers, staffers, small-time staffers, including very, very big people involved with the campaign,” she said Thursday.
Edwards, who ran for president in 2004 and 2008, admitted in 2008 that he’d had an affair with Rielle Hunter, a videographer on his campaign — though, initially, his former aide Andrew Young announced he was the father of Hunter’s child. Earlier this year, Edwards publicly admitted for the first time that he fathered Hunter’s child and Edwards and his wife Elizabeth separated after 30 years of marriage.
The feds are looking at whether the Edwards campaign used funds to cover up his affair. Hunter and Young made appearances at a federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C. last year to testify before a grand jury. Young said he did not receive a subpoena this time around.
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