Although I disagree with John Edwards when it comes to politics, I defended him when the news first broke back in 2007, that he had cheated on his wife, Elizabeth.
I thought the National Enquirer's story was concocted tabloid trash. I didn't think Edwards would betray his wife.
I gave him way too much credit.
Now, after years of public denials and lies about his affair and his baby with Rielle Hunter, Edwards faces prosecution for criminal wrongdoing.
The United States Department of Justice in Washington has given the go ahead for John Edwards to be prosecuted in connection with a campaign finance investigation.
A source familiar with the case tells the I-Team Edwards now knows that federal prosecutors intend to indict him.
As we have been reporting, the former Senator has been the focus of a federal grand jury investigation in Raleigh for the past two-and-a-half years.
From Chopper11 HD Tuesday evening the Edwards mansion in Orange County appeared to be quiet.
The I-team has learned Edwards is deciding how to proceed now that the Justice Department has given the green light for him to face criminal charges.
...Edwards will have the option of entering a guilty plea and will be able to avoid a costly criminal trial with an uncertain outcome.
The ENQUIRER has uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!
The ENQUIRER has also confirmed that Edwards secretly visited Rielle and their love child three separate times at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this year - a fact that proves he is still lying to America and his wife.
...After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant.
Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.
Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.
...In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)
Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife.
Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.
Breitbart.tv has posted an "Intimate John Edwards Video Shot by Woman Caught-Up in Campaign Scandal."
That woman is Rielle Hunter, formerly known as Lisa Druck.
From the related link in the National Enquirer: "The woman linked to Presidential candidate John Edwards in a cheating scandal is more than six months pregnant and telling a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her unborn child, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively." This behind-the-scenes campaign video, the only one yet available, lists Rielle Hunter as the director.
I really don't know why Breitbart posted this video.
Hunter directed it. So what?
It doesn't prove anything as far as an intimate relationship between Hunter and Edwards goes.
Remember that a Clinton ally is closely connected to The Enquirer.
What the tabloid's readers, in politics and out, may not know is that a key owner of the Enquirer is a prominent New York investment banker and one of Hillary Clinton's key backers, Roger Altman. Altman was an official in the first Clinton administration, and his name is often mentioned as a possible Clinton Treasury Secretary.
The investment boutique which Altman founded and chairs, Evercore Partners, bought a controlling stake in American Media, which publishes the Enquirer, in 1999, which it still holds with a partner. Evercore's president, Austin Beutner, sits on American Media's Board of Directors, according to Evercore's website.
A spokesman for American Media, Richard Valvo, said in an email that Altman has "no involvement in editorial, ever." He said that Evercore owns 20 percent of the company through an investment fund. Altman didn't respond to an email seeking comment or to a message left with his secretary.
American Media has also published lurid and negative stories about the Clintons since its acquisition.
I don't think this proves that the Clintons are behind the Edwards story.
Yes, there's a connection. It's because the connection is so clear that it would be risky for Clinton to exploit it. But desperate times call for desperate measures. The sagging Hillary is certainly desperate.
If the story is true, John Edwards is finished as a contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
The story is the National Enquirer top-of-the-page cover article -- which is set to go on sale at the checkout counters of the supermarkets and drug stores of Iowa, New Hampshire and the other 48 states Wednesday morning -- that claims the former senator from North Carolina is the father of a soon-to-be-born "love child."
...Edwards and the staffer are reportedly denying the story -- with the campaign issuing an absolute and unequivocal dismissal of its validity. The Enquirer counters with a claim that it has obtained confirmations from friends of the woman who say she shared the details of the affair and the pregnancy with them. Reporters for the weekly newspaper also claims to have seen emails that were purportedly sent by the woman regarding an affair.
The Enquirer and other tabloids, it should be remembered, broke stories of Bill Clinton's affairs in 1992. But Clinton had a reputation as a rogue. Edwards has always presented himself as a dedicated husband to Elizabeth, who is currently fighting cancer, and as the doting father of young children.
Under the circumstances, it is difficult to see how the Edwards campaign could survive a legitimate sex scandal.
It may not even be able to survive an illegitimate sex scandal.
Edwards has been surging in Iowa -- a new Insider Advantage poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers has him ahead of New York Senator Hillary Clinton and just one point behind Illinois Senator Barack Obama. But he cannot afford to lose the critical days leading up to the January 3 caucuses that will make or break his campaign responding to questions -- fair or not -- about whether he got a staffer pregnant.
I think it's far more likely that the alleged scandal is illegitimate.
That makes the whole thing even more troubling. If a candidate is going to implode, it shouldn't be because of a concocted story in a tabloid.
Unfortunately, the politics of personal destruction doesn't need facts to be effective. The mere suggestion of scandal is enough.
The ENQUIRER has uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!
The ENQUIRER has also confirmed that Edwards secretly visited Rielle and their love child three separate times at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this year - a fact that proves he is still lying to America and his wife.
...After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant.
Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.
Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.
...In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)
Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife.
Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.
I didn't buy it then. Although I think he'd make a terrible president, I defended John Edwards, the husband.
Now, there's another chapter in the alleged scandal.
Drudge is teasing with the next National Enquirer cover.
Edwards' mistress is pregnant and in hiding. Of course, she's not hiding very well, given the fact that THERE'S A PHOTO OF HER ON THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered.
The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to Edwards in a cheating scandal earlier this year, is more than six months pregnant — and she's told a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her baby!
The ENQUIRER's political bombshell comes just weeks after Edwards emphatically denied having an affair with Rielle, who formerly worked on his campaign and told another close pal that she was romantically involved with the married ex-senator.
The ENQUIRER has now confirmed not only that Rielle is expecting, but that she's gone into hiding with the help of a former aide to Edwards. The visibly pregnant blonde has relocated from the New York area to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she is living in an upscale gated community near political operative Andrew Young, who's been extremely close to Edwards for years and was a key official in his presidential campaign.
And in a bizarre twist, Young — a 41-year-old married man with young children — now claims HE is the father of Rielle's baby! But others are skeptical, wondering if Young's paternity claim is a cover-up to protect Edwards.
I think this "bombshell" is coming straight from Hillary's campaign.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill was dispatched to get this scandal in the oven.
I kid. I kid. But the scandal does have the Clinton style written all over it, and Hillary is really desperate right now.
The story could also be coming from Obama's campaign. When it comes to the politics of personal destruction, Obama can convincingly claim innocence because so many people know how dirty Hillary and the Clinton machine can be. More importantly, Obama has been a victim of the Clinton slime himself.
Seriously, I still don't buy the Enquirer story.
The timing of the "bombshell" is very suspect, catching people just before they zone out for the holidays but in time to get attention before the January 3 Iowa Caucus.
I'm going to need DNA proof or a teary-eyed Edwards begging for forgiveness on 60 Minutes before I'll believe it.
It's tabloid trash. It's dirty politics.
See what I mean about it having the Clinton fingerprints on it?
The ENQUIRER has uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying his mistress Rielle Hunter - and she was whisked away on a private jet two days before he confessed their extramarital affair on national TV!
The ENQUIRER has also confirmed that Edwards secretly visited Rielle and their love child three separate times at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles this year - a fact that proves he is still lying to America and his wife.
...After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant.
Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.
Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.
...In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)
Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife.
Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.
(Note: Original post, October 13, 2007, begins here.)
I would never vote for John Edwards.
I don't agree with his stand on the issues. I don't like the way he stretches the truth and panders. I really can't stand his call for Americans to sacrifice and conserve to save the planet while he's among the nation's mega-consumers, leaving an enormous carbon footprint trail. Politically, I can't stand the guy.
Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught in a shocking mistress scandal that could wreck his campaign, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
Sources have come forward to charge that the "other woman" previously worked on Edwards' campaign and followed the 54-year-old candidate on trips across the U.S.
A source close to the woman, whose name is being withheld by The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, says that she confessed to having an affair in phone calls and emails, saying that her work with Edwards soon exploded into romance.
..."The affair started about 18 months ago," a friend says the woman confessed to her. "When they met at a bar, sparks flew immediately.
"She never expected it would turn sexual since John is married and is running for President. But it soon did — and she fell for him."
In one bombshell e-mail message provided to The NATIONAL ENQUIRER, the woman confesses to a friend she's "in love with John," but it's "difficult because he is married and has kids."
In another e-mail, she writes: "Last night and this a.m., he actually has amazed me. He is a great man. My heart is loud and my head is silenced."
Disclosed her friend: "She initially confided in a few of her closest pals that she was sleeping with 'a married man named John.'
"It became clear the married man was John Edwards. They got together whenever they could, mostly at hotels where Edwards and his campaign staff stayed."
The woman later spelled it out in a phone call to her pal and talked openly about having an affair with Edwards.
Sometimes The Enquirer gets it right. That's undeniable.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards Thursday vehemently denied a supermarket tabloid's story that he cheated on his wife.
"It's completely untrue, ridiculous," Edwards told reporters in Summerton, S.C., after being asked about a National Enquirer story that said he had an affair with a campaign staffer.
The Enquirer did not name the woman or the source of its information. But the Web site MyDD.com, a political "direct democracy" forum, posted a statement from Rielle Hunter, a woman who has made a series of short documentaries about the former North Carolina senator.
"The innuendoes and lies that have appeared on the Internet and in the National Enquirer concerning John Edwards are not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous," Hunter stated. "When working for the Edwards camp, my conduct as well as the conduct of my entire team was completely professional. This concocted story is just dirty politics, and I want no part of it."
..."I've been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years and, as anybody who's been around us knows, she's an extraordinary human being, warm, loving, beautiful, sexy and as good a person as I have ever known," Edwards said. "So the story's just false."
I think this is just silly, concocted tabloid trash.
I don't for one minute believe that Edwards would cheat on his wife, especially given her health situation.
During their marriage, they've faced tragedies and challenges together. There's no way Edwards would do that to her.
I don't believe it.
Actually, I think this story will help Edwards rather than hurt him. I think it's likely to bring people to his defense instead of shoring up support for his political opponents, like smear-meister Hillary Clinton.
