News outlets say former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards may be charged Friday with illegally using campaign donations to keep an extramarital affair secret.

Reports that Edwards' lawyer, Gregory Craig, would be in (the southeastern U.S. state) of North Carolina Friday has fueled speculation that federal prosecutors are ready to indict Edwards or are negotiating a plea agreement with him in order to avoid a trial. Edwards resides in North Carolina and was elected to the U.S. Senate from there in 1998.

Two wealthy donors to Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign gave money to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, with whom Edwards fathered a child. Prosecutors say the money should have been reported as a campaign donation. But Craig says the money was used to hide the affair from John Edwards's wife, Elizabeth, who died last year after a long battle against cancer.