The federal government's failed case into former presidential candidate John Edwards could spell good news for Donald Trump, experts told Fox News Digital.
has drawn comparisons in recent days to the failed hush-money case against former Democratic senator and presidential candidate John Edwards.
While Edwards faced federal charges and Trump now faces state charges, experts see similarities in both cases, which they say could benefit Trump.Fox News Digital spoke with several experts – including a law professor, former Federal Election Commission members and a former federal prosecutor – who spelled out why Edwards' case could be bad news for Bradley Smith - Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M.
"In the Edwards case, they were actually trying a federal case. Here, they're not actually trying a federal case," Smith said."If they go ahead to go to trial and find Trump guilty, he's not going to be found guilty of federal campaign finance violations; he's going to be found guilty of violating the New York state law on altering business records in order to cover up other crimes, which are allegedly these campaign finance crimes.
"That's a very tough thing for a prosecutor to do, but on the other hand, it could be a helpful thing," Smith said."If you get [to] the jury, you don't have to show the federal crime beyond a reasonable doubt; you just have to [get the] jury thinking, 'Trump's probably a bad guy and probably did it,' then maybe that's enough, and they convict on the state crime.
"I think that shows that the one time the Justice Department tried to pursue a case like this, it failed," he continued."That was probably the biggest reason why the Justice Department and the FEC didn't go after Trump because they didn't believe that it was – based on prior experience – a violation of federal campaign finance law, and that's the biggest flaw in this whole case.
"Even in that case, they obviously were not able to get a conviction," Cherkasky said."The reason for that is when you're charging these campaign finance violations, it's a specific intent crime. The prosecution has to prove the individual not only failed to properly account for campaign finance funds but that the reason that they did that was for purposes of campaign fraud, not for some other purpose.