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The U.S. Department of Justice has given the thumb’s up for prosecution of ex-presidential candidate, John Edwards, for allegedly violating campaign law while attempting to cover up his affair with mistress and baby mama Rielle Hunter.
Sources close to the investigation told ABC News that the government is gearing up to indict the former North Carolina senator.
A plea deal could be reached to avoid a lengthy, expensive and highly publicized trial.
John Edwards, 57, a former golden boy of the Democratic Party, has been the subject of a two-year investigation.
The investigation is whether his political donors gave more than $1 million to Hunter, his campaign videographer, to hide the affair as he pursued a bid for the Oval Office.
The cash was allegedly paid by two key Edwards donors, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and the politician’s finance chairman, Fred Baron, who died in 2008.
Baron admitted to funneling the cash shortly before his death, but insisted Edwards had no idea of the back-door deal to hide Hunter from the press.
The two-timing politician admitted to his relationship with Hunter in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he copped to being the father of their child, Frances Quinn Hunter.
Elizabeth Edwards, who was married to the politician for 33 years, died of breast cancer on Dec. 7.
If the case goes to trial, it would almost certainly focus on Edwards’ former aide, Andrew Young, who has since written a tell-all book about Hunter’s sexcapades with Edwards.
Young, who at one point claimed he was the father of Hunter’s child, insists that Edwards knew about the money and even solicited it.