LA Times – Appearing in federal court in Winston-Salem, former Democratic Vise Presidential candidate John Edwards, was released on his own recognizance. He was ordered to stay away from campaign benefactor Rachel Mellon, whose alleged donations to his 2008 presidential effort lie at the heart of the government’s prosecution of the ex-North Carolina senator. He also surrendered his passport and was ordered to remain in the continental United States.

Edwards is accused of accepting more than $925,000 in campaign donations and then using the money to cover up his affair with ex-campaign aide Rielle Hunter.

“I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I have done,” Edwards said, “but I did not break the law and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law.”

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