Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child Scandal: Enquirer Fires Second Salvo

The National Enquirer has released their 1st Update
in the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Scandal.
Expect more over the next 24 hours.
Will the Edwards campaign issue a statement? When?

Single Mother, Rielle Hunter, Refused
National Enquirer's Reaching Out--
to give her a polygraph

The furious spinning, or rather issuing of statements upon statements, continued in the John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal.

Ignited by photos and a story about multiple sources in the National Enquirer yesterday, the storm breaks just John Edwards has taken the lead in some polls in Iowa.

Rielle issued her own statement through MyDD.com, a pro-Democratic Web site, saying: "The innuendos and lies that have appeared on the Internet and in the National Enquirer concerning John Edwards are not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous.

"My video production company was hired by the Edwards camp on a six-month contract, which we completed Dec. 31, 2006. When working for the Edwards camp, my conduct as well as the conduct of my entire team was completely professional."

But what the rest of the press didn't know is that when Rielle made that claim, she was pregnant, hiding it and had told her confidante it was Edwards' baby.

That's also when it was decided Rielle would relocate to North Carolina, said the source.

The Enquirer is pretty thorough in documenting the living arrangement of Hunter in North Carolina and that of another John Edwards' campaign worker, Andrew Young.

The Enquirer asks an interesting question: "Was any campaign money used in the billeting of Rielle Hunter?

The ENQUIRER has confirmed that Young placed Rielle in a rental home in the Governors Club, the same gated community where he lives in a multimillion-dollar home with his wife Cheri and their young children. That home is owned by an Edwards' backer and is less than five miles from Edwards' national campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill, N.C.

A former "Director of Operations" for Edwards' campaign, Young's last official position with the campaign was "North Carolina Finance Director." He left that job about a month ago - about the same time Rielle settled in Chapel Hill.

A source close to Young vehemently denies that he funneled campaign money to Rielle - who drives a BMW SUV registered in Young's name.

Whoever the Enquirer employed to chase down the ex-"hard-partying girl" confronted the mother-to-be and got the brush-off.

Like a true political operative that she once was, she denied everything.

The ENQUIRER spotted Rielle — visibly pregnant in a black sweater and loose-fitting slacks — leaving her OB/GYN's office in Cary, N.C., on Dec. 12.

And when asked for a comment about her relationship with Edwards by an ENQUIRER reporter, Rielle responded: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Asked why she was living in Young's gated community, she answered: "I have no idea what you are talking about."

When asked who fathered her baby, she answered: "I have no idea who you're talking about or what you're talking about."

She even denied that she was Rielle Hunter!

It appears that after that confrontation with the National Enquirer's agent, the Edwards' campaign decided that they had better treat this incident as serious.

Simply denying would no longer work, they apparently felt.

And John Edwards, like many a trial attorney, changed course.

NOW, it the balloon was floated that Andrew Young was actually the father.

But things changed dramatically when The ENQUIRER contacted Edwards for a comment just days later.

Edwards' lawyer called The ENQUIRER and denied the well-coiffed Democratic candidate is the father of Rielle's baby, adding that Rielle would deny it as well.

A day later, in a shocking twist, the attorney for Mr. Young issued a statement that Young fathered Rielle's baby!

"Andrew Young is the father of Ms. Hunter's unborn child," declared his Washington, D.C.-based attorney.

"Sen. Edwards knew nothing about the relationship between these former co-workers, which began when they worked together in 2006.

"As a private citizen who no longer works for the campaign, Mr. Young asks that the media respect his privacy while he works to make amends with his family."

Neither Young nor Rielle offered any evidence of their prior romantic relationship, and both turned down an ENQUIRER request to take polygraph tests on the claim that Young fathered her child.

Now some insiders wonder whether Young's paternity claim is simply a cover-up to protect his longtime pal Edwards.

As can be expected, speculation started almost immediately. The Enquirer recorded some of it.

"If you have an alternate explanation for a scandal, you don't take 24 hours to offer that explanation, let alone days or weeks," a political insider told The ENQUIRER.

Simply put, Edwards could have nipped the earlier cheating scandal in the bud by instructing his aides to explain that Rielle had been romantically involved with a married man on the campaign. But he didn't.

The NE offers as its evidence for bold headlines the testimony of its sources.

Instead, Rielle has been telling a confidante that Edwards is the father of her child.

"Rielle told me while Andrew Young is a friend, she's not romantically involved with him," says the source close to Rielle. "Rielle says he's been responsible for finding her a place to live and even getting her a car to drive.

"If he really were the father of her baby and had engaged in an extramarital affair with her, I doubt seriously that he'd bring his wife and kids over to her house for dinner — which Rielle told me he did a few weeks ago.

"Rielle has said from the beginning that the baby is John's, but she appears willing to do whatever they want her to do to protect his candidacy.

"I think what's taking place is simply a cover-up by Edwards' campaign."

And that's the latest update.

If past performance is any guide, this is not all the information on this that the National Enquirer has gathered.

Its MO is to measure out what it has in three or four releases to keep interest high and to try and catch someone in a falsehood.

Could this be why the Edwards' campaign has not released any statements that we could find as of now?

Are they afraid of saying something and later this evening or tomorrow being confronted with more embarrassing evidence?

This is the second installment from the Enquirer in the John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal series.

It won't be the last.

by Mondoreb

Source: UPDATE! John Edwards Love Child Scandal