“John Edwards defense: Justice Department flip-flopped”

Politico: “Defense lawyers for former Sen. John Edwards contend that the Justice Department set aside one of its standing policies in campaign finance cases in order to seek Edwards’s indictment on the charges he’s currently on trial for in federal court here. In a court filing late Tuesday, Edwards’s defense team submitted a letter the head of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Branch wrote in 2009 stating that Justice only prosecutes federal campaign finance violations in cases that clearly run afoul of standards established by the Federal Election Commission.”

As I’ve written, there are serious risks when prosecutors can use unclear laws to go after politicians for criminal violations.

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