Lawyers argue over sex tape

Associated Press

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Opposing lawyers in the John Edwards trial wrangled with a judge over whether to allow testimony about a sex tape of the former presidential candidate and allegations of an affair involving an ex-aide who ended a week on the witness stand Friday.

Edwards is accused of directing a conspiracy to use about $1 million in campaign donors’ payments to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008. He denies knowing about the money and has pleaded not guilty.

Former aide and confidante Andrew Young testified this week that he deposited the payments from a wealthy Texas lawyer who served as Edwards’ campaign- finance chairman and an elderly heiress into personal accounts controlled by him and his wife.

Prosecutors objected Friday when a defense lawyer for Edwards asked Young whether he had threatened to release a “private video” to expose Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles instructed Edwards’ lawyer Abbe Lowell to continue his cross-examination of Young without mentioning the tape.