GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - The defense rested its case on Wednesday in the federal trial of ex-Senator John Edwards on charges he used presidential campaign finances to hide his then-pregnant mistress from voters, setting the stage for jury deliberations as early as this week.
Edwards' lawyers, who maintained that he was hiding the affair from his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards, rather than from voters, wrapped up their case after calling seven witnesses.
But three of the most anticipated witnesses never took the stand: Edwards, his eldest daughter Cate and Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom he had an affair during his 2008 presidential bid.
Closing arguments are due to begin on Thursday, the judge overseeing the trial said, meaning the jury could potentially start deliberations either later that day or Friday.
Attorney Abbe Lowell had previously said the defense was considering putting Hunter, Edwards and Cate Edwards on the stand in an attempt to refute charges that the one-time politician solicited illegal campaign contributions to help hide his then-pregnant mistress from voters.
Edwards, 58, a two-time presidential hopeful and the Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee, has returned to the national spotlight over the last several weeks, but this time he is a defendant in a criminal trial in Greensboro, North Carolina, the state where he won millions as a trial lawyer before being elected to the Senate in 1998.
Prosecutors say Edwards directed his aide, Andrew Young, to seek more than $900,000 from heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and Texas trial lawyer Fred Baron as part of a plot to keep the married politician's affair from destroying his campaign.
Edwards insists he did not break the law. His attorneys argue he had nothing to do with the payments, which they say were meant as personal gifts intended to keep his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, from finding out about the ongoing affair and Hunter's pregnancy.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Anthony Boadle)