John Edwards: "I did not break the law"

John Edwards has insisted that he is innocent in the face of campaign finance charges stemming from his 2008 presidential run.

The senator was accused of misusing political funds in order to cover up his affair and love child with former mistress Rielle Hunter.

However, People reports that after appearing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina federal court on Friday, Edwards pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed that he did not believe that he was breaking the law.

"There is no question that I've done wrong. I take full responsibility for having done wrong," he told reporters.

"I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law, and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law."

Edwards denied reports earlier this year that he had proposed to Hunter following the death of his estranged wife, the late Elizabeth Edwards.