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BRITTANY MURPHY POISONED: Why? The Conspiracy behind Brittany Murphy's DeathLAST DAYS: What does the Bible Say? Click to find out!
UFOs, DECEPTION and DISCLOSURE: When it comes to UFOs, the government is all about deception--just not the way you've been led to believe.
* John Edwards Love Child Scandal --First installment of December 19, 2007 story - The Enquirer named the "other woman". Rielle Hunter, a former producer of a campaign video for Edwards.
* More on John Edwards Love Child Scandal --UPDATE on the December 19, 2007 story - The Enquirer publishes a picture of a pregnant Rielle Hunter, as well as some interesting info on Rielle's living arrangements.
Why Did Rielle Hunter Issue a Denunciation Against the National Enquirer--Which Wouldn't Name Her as the "Other Woman" for Another 9 Weeks?
On October 10, The National Enquirer ran the story, Presidential Cheating Scandal: Alleged Affair Could Wreck John Edwards Campaign. It did not name the woman involved.
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.
--October 10 National Enquirer - Alleged Affair Could Wreck John Edwards Campaign
The next day, Rielle Hunter issued this statement.
"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.
My video production company was hired by the Edwards camp on a 6 month contract, which we completed December 31, 2006.
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."
--Statement issued by Rielle Hunter on October 11, 4:15 on MyDD
Why did Rielle Hunter issue a statement denouncing the National Enquirer? The name, "Rielle Hunter" is nowhere to be seen in the National Enquirer story.
Indeed, "Rielle Hunter" was nowhere to be seen in the entire issue of the National Enquirer.
Are we the only ones curious about why someone would feel it necessary to issue a statement denouncing a publication's story in which no mention of that person's name appeared?
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.
That is the extent of the information in the Enquirer story about what connection the "other woman" had with the Edwards campaign.
What was it about the National Enquirer story that prompted Rielle Hunter to immediately issue the above denunciation?
On October 11, Hunter's pregnancy was not public knowledge.
Nor was the fact that she would soon relocate to North Carolina, within 5 miles of the Edwards campaign headquarters.
In a house owned by an Edwards campaign backer.
A few streets away from Andrew Young, former "Director of Operations" for the Edwards campaign.
Nearly a year after completing her work for the Edwards campaign.
Work in which her "conduct was completely professional".
Again, are we the only ones curious about these facts?
Major media doesn't think these events are newsworthy, or apparently, even odd.
If Rielle Hunter had leaked her statement to Robert Novak, instead of publishing it on MyDD.com, perhaps that would have piqued the Establishment Media's interest.
DBKP will publish an exhaustive time line later today on this curious episode.
We're not hopeful that it will spark Mainstream Media interest.
Interview with Enquirer Editor-in-Chief David Perel about the scandal that was up yesterday has disappeared!
Did a 'interview' actually take place? Our theory about what happened to the mysterious "interview".
(Disappeared! We couldn't resist the National Enquirer-style headline.)
One more curious item in the John Edwards Love Child Scandal:
Yesterday a story appeared on AOL News which detailed an "interview with National Enquirer Editor-in-Chief, David Perel". We read the short piece and decided to comment on the "interview". But first, it was decided to grab a sandwich first.
When we returned, the "interview" had disappeared!
We continuously checked it throughout last evening, but the "interview" never re-appeared on the AOL News site. Memeorandum still had it referenced. Okay, maybe it was a glitch.
And that is exactly what we suspect happened to the "interview", which was still up on Memeorandum a few minutes ago.
Here's DBKP's theory on the missing "interview".
There was no interview. Never was.
We're theorizing that the person who reported the 'interview' at AOL News was anticipating a media coup: an interview with the brains behind the hot scandal of the moment, the Enquirer's Perel.
He most likely did what we did yesterday. Contact the National Enquirer and talk to someone about the scandal. He also probably talked to the same person we talked to yesterday, the aforementioned Perel.
DBKP was hunting information on past scandals that the MSM had ignored and the Enquirer had broken. We had most of them, but didn't want to miss any. So we called the NE.
An affable chap, Perel at first was hesitant, but then got a copy of the tabloid, due for sale today and read us what is in the sidebar of the magazine's latest story on Edwards. Kinda like the Enquirer's Greatest Hits.
DBKP didn't feel like we should steal the Enquirer's thunder and rush out with the information: after all, the Enquirer had spent money and resources chasing down a story the other media had shown little interest in.
The Enquirer invested a lot in the story. It rightfully would want people to read about it in the National Enquirer or its website.
Not in AOL News.
Perel told us everything in the AOL story, plus a little more.
In fact, it was remarked here that the AOL story could have almost have been a transcript from our notes.
But we were more interested in actually chatting with Perel, the man behind this story, not scooping the publication in a faux 'interview'.
Not that we're paragons of human virtue--far from it. But, we're not without appreciating someone else's hard work, either.
So here's our theory: The guy at AOL News (his name escapes us and his interview isn't visible) put up the "interview" and sat back to expect the resulting traffic to satisfy advertisers.
National Enquirer, upon learning of it, consulted its lawyers and notified AOL News that no "Interview" had occurred, so the story came down. It remains down.
We couldn't imagine that Perel would talk freely on the eve of his paper recouping some of their investment in the John Edwards Love Child Scandal story. It's been reported that up to seven people were involved in gathering information in North Carolina.
Oh wait. That may have been one of the facts contained in the "interview".
This is only a theory, mind you. We have no proof and we figure all parties concerned are probably busy right now: the Enquirer with its latest release of John Edwards Love Child news; AOL News with cleaning up around the office.
That's why no attempt was made to contact either this morning.
We'll get around to it next week, when both are probably a bit freer.
We'll be happy to listen to any other theories, or better yet, news of what actually happened.
In the meantime, we're going to pass along a little advice we've learned over the years.
Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
UPDATE: December 22, 2007 - Okay, Okay. So our theory was wrong! In the course of checking something out today, we confirmed that there was an interview. The disappearance of it is still a mystery to everyone we talked to today. As is the other location the interview disappeared from during the same time frame.
So, it was a glitch. We did say it could have been a glitch. So, give us partial credit. If our theory offended anyone, we extend our deepest apologies. Just so you'll know and we keep the record straight.
by Mondoreb [image:nationalenquirer]
DBKP's John Edwards Love Child Scandal * * * LIBRARY * * * 18 DBKP Stories on the Scandal
The latest on the John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal story from the National Enquirer.
What's new about the presidential candidate's supposed love child and the campaign video-producing mother?
* A picture of Rielle, very pregnant, is displayed on the Enquirer website. In the picture, Rielle Hunter doesn't seem to notice the presence of a photographer. She does, however, appears to be in a hurry.
* Rielle Hunter was placed in a rental home in the Governor's Club, the same gated community that Andrew Young (not the former U.N. ambassador) has a multi-million dollar home.
* Young is Edwards' former "North Carolina Finance Director".
* The home Hunter is living in, is owned by an Edwards' backer and is less than five miles from Edwards' national campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill, N.C.
* Someone is quoted saying that "Young is a friend of Hunter" and nothing more. Although at this point, he seems to be her chaperon.
* The question is raised about why Young, whom Edwards' campaign insists is the father, would place his mistress in the same locale as his wife and kids.
Maybe Young is not very experienced in the cheating husband role.
These facts are interspersed throughout the story that has been emerging on the Enquirer's website and in the pages of its tabloid.
Expect more news and bigger news later this evening or early tomorrow morning. That's when new Enquirers will be hitting many locations for sale.
The updated material from the National Enquirer.
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.
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.
The question remains: will the John Edwards campaign answer any questions?
Will the traditional media ask any?
Is the Edwards' campaign hoping that this will blow over and they can continue to campaign in Iowa without any distractions?
Will Edwards or any of his staff take time off from the campaign to see Rielle Hunter when she goes to the hospital?
This is not all that we will learn on this matter.
Surely, some interest has been piqued in the traditional media. Surely, someone will want to know who paid for all these perks for Hunter and where the money came from.
Surely, someone will be curious about the living arrangements that an Edwards' campaign member set up for the former "hard-partying girl".
Why Did Rielle Hunter Move 5 Miles From Edwards HQ?
What Drew Her to North Carolina?
Why Did Campaign Take Care of Her?
Why Did Andrew Young Deny Who He Was?
Scandal grows how much bigger?
The latest update from the John Edwards Love Child Scandal story has come out from the National Enquirer.
It describes what happened when Enquirer reporters asked Andrew Young, the supposed father of Rielle Hunter's unborn child, about Rielle and Young's identity.
And no one has denied the source's information that Rielle has been in phone contact with Edwards since finding out she is pregnant.
When ENQUIRER reporters contacted Young in person at his home on Dec. 12, he became furious — and denied he was Andrew Young.
He also denied knowing "any Rielle Hunter," yelling at the top of his voice: "You don't even know who I am!" But when his wife called him "Andrew," he shot her a dirty look.
An enraged Young called police, demanding our reporters be arrested for trespassing. Officers from the Chatham County (N.C.) Sheriff's Department responded, questioned everyone and made no arrests.
While controversy swirls around her, Rielle — a wannabe actress who by her own admission was a drug-using New York party girl in the '80s — stayed in touch with Edwards.
"Rielle told me that she remains in phone contact with John, but can't see him for obvious reasons," said the source close to her.
While the above is interesting, we're still betting there's more to come.
In the meantime, Little Baby Ginn couldn't get this question off her mind.
"Why does a woman quit supporting herself and
move several states away, just because she's pregnant?"
Our question is much more mundane:
"What compelled Rielle Hunter, supposedly a woman who did a little bit of work for the Edwards' campaign that was finished in December 2006, move to within 5 miles of Edwards' campaign HQ in 2007?
Our last question for now:
What else does the National Enquirer know about John Edwards and Rielle Hunter?
Katie Couric Asks John Edwards an Interesting Question
John Edwards Gives an Interesting Answer
"I think that, as you point out, there have been American presidents that at least according to the ... stories we've all heard, that were not faithful, that were in fact good presidents. So I don't think it controls the issue."
--John Edwards this evening with Katie Couric on CBS Evening News
"Jonathan Prince offered to let me and my editor, Tom Edsall, watch the videos - apparently unaware that at one point his campaign claimed not to have access to them."
--Sam Stein,in The Huffington Post, on the videos produced by Rielle Hunter for John Edwards that mysteriously became "unavailable".
The John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal is not going away.
The Edwards' campaign has issued no statements, apparently either not completely sure what to say or satisfied that observers will dismiss the National Enquirer's information that the supermarket tabloid started releasing yesterday as trashy gossip.
And indeed, things did die down today--for awhile.
By late afternoon, if one Googled "John Edwards" in "NEWS", the Enquirer's slot with accompanying stories had disappeared, to be replaced about topics like how "cool" the Edwards campaign was in Iowa.
The Enquirer's slot on the Edwards NewsSearch returned this evening.
Maybe it was because some others are beginning to take notice of the curious affair of John Edwards and Rielle Hunter.
By an odd circumstance, Katie Couric, tonight's CBS Evening News, asked the candidates their views on infidelity.
John Edwards was among them.
His answer, in its entirety, is contained later in this piece. The part of his answer reproduced at the top of this page may prove revealing, however.
Not a whiff of a statement from the Edwards campaign can be detected at this point.
Having read Sam Stein's Huffington Post piece on the mysterious Rielle Hunter videos, I re-read it again last night and again a little while ago.
The piece, written September 26, 2007, reports the trouble that the reporter had obtaining access to these suddenly inaccessible pieces of campaign work.
Re-reading in light of the sudden attention devoted the subject lately is, to say the least, interesting. It raises a few questions.
Over the next two months, various stories appeared on the Rielle Hunter-John Edwards connection and the secrecy that enveloped it. Especially the first National Enquirer story on the pair. But after awhile, the stories became less frequent.
Apparently, everyone moved onto other topics.
Except the National Enquirer.
Say what you will, the Enquirer is like a piranha when it smells blood. It devoted some more resources to the mystery. There were enough interesting questions for the gossip tabloid to tackle.
NE dispatched an operative to Chapel Hill, NC to "keep an eye" on Rielle Hunter, who'd moved within 5 miles of the Edwards campaign headquarters.
Back to interesting questions.
* Why did the campaign pay at least $100,000 for Hunter to do a few videos to introduce the 'real John Edwards' to America and then hide them?
* Why does an aspiring actress register information with the Screen Actors Guild and then make her information unavailable?
* Why did the campaign seemingly want the Rielle Hunter videos to fade away?
* Does the candidate still want America to see the 'real John Edwards'?
* Did Katie Couric see a glimpse of that person tonight on CBS Evening News?
* Why would Rielle Hunter deny she was Rielle Hunter?
* Was it because she still thought she was Lisa Druck?
* Did Rielle/Lisa get her BMW courtesy of the John Edwards campaign? A former campaign staffer who has the car registered in his name, denies it.
The Rielle Hunter videos
"I've come to the personal conclusion, that I actually want the country to see who I am."
--John Edwards in his missing, then re-surfaced video made by Rielle Hunter. Edwards' campaign paid Hunter over $100,000 for the "web drama" videos.
Some of the missing webisodes reappeared on YouTube. The first is below.
The production company responsible for the webisodes, Midline Groove Productions, had a minimalist website. Through it, however, I was able to email Mimi Hockman, Rielle Hunter's partner, to ask if I could screen the tapes. She directed me to a Business Week website where the last remaining webisode link still functioned. But beyond that, I was rebuffed. Once again, the reasons seemed strangely artificial.
"Our contract expired last year," Hockman emailed, "and the Edwards camp owns all of the webisodes and footage."
(Hmmm.... The campaign had said it couldn't access the footage.) Could we at least talk off the record about the filming process?
"Nope," she wrote. "Not a chance."
My reportorial curiosity thoroughly piqued, I decided to dig further.
Who is Rielle Hunter? The Newsweek item said Edwards met the aspiring actress and filmmaker in a New York City bar. A call to the Screen Actors Guild elicited the following exchange:
Screen Actors Guild: "This performer chooses not to list her contact information in the membership database."
HuffPost: "So if I wanted to contact her about her work with web video?"
SAG: "Well, I don't know what to tell you. It's up to the performer to choose whether they are listed or not."
Stein starts asking other questions.
Most important of all: Was there, in fact, a legal reason that prohibited Edwards from showing the webisodes? One campaign finance expert told me that, "if used by the presidential campaign, the videos are considered an in-kind contribution, which is limited at $5,000 in value... Still," he added, "this is an abundance of caution." Others didn't tread as lightly. "Bullshit", "baloney", and "malarkey" were the words used by three eminent experts in the field to describe Edwards' stance.
Presented with this record, the Edwards campaign finally relented. But even then they proved surprisingly guarded.
Jonathan Prince offered to let me and my editor, Tom Edsall, watch the videos - apparently unaware that at one point his campaign claimed not to have access to them. But there was a proviso: we could only view the videos in Prince's presence.
Stein asks this penetrating question that has yet almost 3 months from his writing it, to be answered by the Edwards' campaign.
Not lost in the matter is the irony of Edwards' stance. After all, the videos were made with the apparent goal of bringing transparency to the political process.
We'll revisit the videos in a later piece. For now, the questions remain.
Katie Couric's interview is somewhat enlightening. Why not a straightforward answer to a question that Edwards had to know was going to appear at some point after the first Enquirer story?
John Edwards, from all accounts, was a uber-successful trial attorney; he's used to tough questions and rigorous preparation for important performances.
The complete CBS Evening News exchange is below.
Couric: Harry Truman said, "A man not honorable in his marital relations is not usually honorable in any other." Some people don't feel comfortable supporting a candidate who has not remained faithful to his or her spouse. Can you understand their position?
Edwards: Of course. I mean, for a lot of Americans, including the family that I grew up with ... it's fundamental to how you judge people and human character: Whether you keep your word, whether you keep what is your ultimate word, which is that you love your spouse, and you'll stay with them.
Couric: Do you think ... what about people who use that as a way to evaluate a candidate? In other words, there have been a number of fine presidents according to some analysts ...
Edwards: Right.
Couric: ... who have certainly not been sort of exhibited the greatest moral character ...
Edwards: Right.
Couric: ... when it comes to infidelity ...
Edwards: Right.
Couric: I guess is what I'm getting at.
Edwards: Yes.
Couric: So how important do you think it is in the grand scheme of things?
Edwards: I think the most important qualities in a president in today's world are trustworthiness, sincerity, honesty, strength of leadership. And certainly that goes to a part of that. It's not the whole thing. But it goes to a part of it.
Couric: So you think it's an appropriate way to judge a candidate?
Edwards: Yeah. But I don't think it's controlling. I mean, I think that, as you point out, there have been American presidents that at least according to the ... stories we've all heard, that were not faithful, that were in fact good presidents. So I don't think it controls the issue. But I think it's certain ... something reasonable for people to consider.
The Edwards' campaign was no doubt happy to receive a cover story in Newsweek this week. The piece is largely favorably predisposed to Edwards.
There is one paragraph, though.
Edwards, who had retired from the Senate to run for president and didn't have (or need) a full-time job, geared up for a second run at the White House. He started a poverty center and immersed himself in policy to combat criticism from the last election that he was a lightweight on the issues.
He also made some questionable choices for a champion of the underprivileged. He built a 25,000-square-foot house, the most expensive in North Carolina's affluent Orange County. He got caught paying a ridiculous sum for a haircut. More seriously, he took a part-time, $500,000 consulting job with Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund of the type that has become a symbol of Wall Street excess.
Edwards invested nearly $16 million of his own money in the fund. This summer, it was revealed that Fortress invested in two major subprime lenders that had sought to foreclose on victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana—an unflattering detail for a candidate who launched his campaign with a speech in the Lower Ninth Ward.
In our mind, anyway: what's the National Enquirer going to release next? The publication usually reserves some juicy bits for later release, after the initial story.
More details, in many cases.
We're waiting for that next blast.
The smart money is saying that the Edwards campaign might be doing some waiting itself.
[NOTE: Ron Gunzburger's Politics echoes our feelings about the National Enquirer still having big guns left to fire in this story. Also, they publish the expected denial--finally--from Edwards.]
EDWARDS: John Edwards' strongly denied the sex scandal allegation published Wednesday on the cover of the National Enquirer as "absolute nonsense." The story claims Edwards impregnated a campaign staffer, Rielle Hunter, who is now six-months pregnant. Hunter denied the story in a written statement, saying that "this has no relationship to nor does it involve John Edwards in any way. Andrew Young is the father of my unborn child."
Interestingly -- and I say this because you just know trial lawyer Edwards will sue the Enquirer when the race is over if this story is false -- the newspaper is sticking with their version that Edwards is the father of Hunter's unborn child. Stay tuned because Enquirer's past history indicates they usually save the most damning evidence in these situations to print in an upcoming edition once the the target is locked into a denial story.
As information about Rielle Hunter, mother of John Edwards' alleged love child, continues to come out, one piece of information remains elusive.
A statement from the Edwards' campaign about the growing scandal.
The National Enquirer broke the story yesterday and has added updates today.
They are expected to release at least two more updates containing information they've tracked down.
Meanwhile, Rielle Hunter denied that Edwards is the father of her child. But then, Rielle Hunter denied being Rielle Hunter, when confronted by a representative of the Enquirer.
Edwards operative, Andrew Young (not the former U.N. ambassador) has stepped forward, in what one source called "taking one for the team" and claimed that he [Young] was the father.
The Enquirer points out that they have been able to establish no known romantic link between Hunter and Young.
Another source has claimed that Hunter is living in a house owned by Edwards.
Still another has questioned whether it is being paid for with Edwards' campaign money.
The National Enquirer wondered in its latest update if, perhaps, this would violate some campaign finance law.
10 Things we do know for sure at this point in the scandal.
We've included the latest from the last updates at the National Enquirer.
10 Things We Now Know from the National Enquirer's story on John Edwards and the UPDATE
1-- Where Rielle lives 2-- What Rielle did for a living 3-- All about Andrew Young 4-- Young Denies EVERYTHING! 5-- Rielle Hunter Denies EVERYTHING! 6-- John Edwards Denies EVERYTHING! 7-- Statements from all concerned 8-- How the National Enquirer pursues a story. 9-- The National Enquirer's political analysis 10- John Edwards is running for president
We saw this, was trying to figure out how to write a whole story based on it, then decided we're too tired to write anything other than a blurb.
Update: There’s a rumor circulating that this story was leaked by the Edwards campaign to make Johnny seem more masculine and less gay. Developing….
Actually, two blurbs, because the same post was updated once more with this:
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Tuesday that he had sex with a campaign staffer to learn more about dating and relationships and their connection to poverty in the United States.
We're not saying we believe rumors and innuendo about scandals, mind you. Only that we're keeping our ears open. --Blog 4 Brownback: Silky Pony, Say it Ain't So
From the UPDATED 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.
Meanwhile, Edwards' cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth has joined him on the campaign trail.
In a statement issued to The ENQUIRER through her attorney, Rielle said: "The fact that I am expecting a child is my personal and private business. This has no relationship to nor does it involve John Edwards in any way. Andrew Young is the father of my unborn child."
Rielle loves Edwards and will do anything to protect him, the source says.
In The ENQUIRER's Oct. 22 issue, we revealed that Edwards, 54, was involved in a mistress scandal and the shocking allegations — if proven true — could devastate the Democratic hopeful's campaign.
John Edwards responding to the question "How many times have you read the National Enquirer?"
At the time, we withheld Rielle's name, but reported that an insider told The ENQUIRER that she claimed that she began the affair some 18 months earlier. She talked about her relationship in phone calls and e-mails.
After our story was published, several political bloggers correctly identified "the other woman" as Rielle, a self-described filmmaker whose company was hired by a pro-Edwards group called One America Committee and paid $114,000 to produce videos for Edwards' campaign. She worked with Edwards on those videos.
Reporters asked Edwards about The ENQUIRER report during a campaign stop in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 11. Edwards responded: "The story is false. It's completely untrue, ridiculous," adding: "Anyone who knows me knows that I have been in love with the same woman for 30 plus years."
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.
"I did not have sex with that woman ...I think"
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.
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!
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.
"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.
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 no one has denied the source's information that Rielle has been in phone contact with Edwards since finding out she is pregnant.
When ENQUIRER reporters contacted Young in person at his home on Dec. 12, he became furious — and denied he was Andrew Young.
He also denied knowing "any Rielle Hunter," yelling at the top of his voice: "You don't even know who I am!" But when his wife called him "Andrew," he shot her a dirty look.
An enraged Young called police, demanding our reporters be arrested for trespassing. Officers from the Chatham County (N.C.) Sheriff's Department responded, questioned everyone and made no arrests.
While controversy swirls around her, Rielle — a wannabe actress who by her own admission was a drug-using New York party girl in the '80s — stayed in touch with Edwards.
"Rielle told me that she remains in phone contact with John, but can't see him for obvious reasons," said the source close to her.
Some analysis on the John Edwards Love Child Scandal:
I ignored this story at first because it was broken by The National Enquirer, and the tabloid has never been the most rock-solid of sources. But now the facts of this story seem to be adding up, and it appears as though TNE may be able to chalk up “the Edwards affair” next to Rush Limbaugh’s pain killer addiction as big-time political stories they’ve broken.
Apparently, a woman who has long been rumored to be Edwards’ mistress, one Rielle Hunter, has turned up pregnant and living in a home owned by an Edwards supporter that just happens to be in the same gated community as that supporter’s family.
Edwards is claiming that Hunter had an affair with the supporter who owns the home she’s living in (one Andrew Young who was formerly the Edwards Campaign’s Director of Operations), but that doesn’t quite make sense. If Young was having the affair with Hunter, would he move his mistress in just blocks away from his family?
It’s a nasty situation, and I don’t expect Edwards will be emerging from it clean.
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.
Come On, Guys! Are we gonna do this or not? I'm ready. Come and get me, Enquirer!
8:08 AM EST:
National Enquirer "John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal" Story is Back Up
Story had been Missing From Enquirer's Site for Approximately 4 Hours
Absence Was Reported Numerous Places on Internet
Drudge, Meme orandum Still Up
Will Enquirer Make Up its Mind?
8:29 - Drudge Now Calls Story "Developing"
The John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal that was reported in the National Enquirer yesterday has been more of an overnight story than anything happening on the John Edwards' side.
The Enquirer story reported a "World Exclusive!"
It had photos of a very pregnant, Rielle Hunter, a former Edwards' campaign worker/staff/producer of docudramas, and reports of multiple sources stating that the father was Democrat candidate, John Edwards.
The story had been reported once before in October by the National Enquirer and pulled down after a denial by the Edwards campaign.
Various parts and additions of the story were reported over the next two months, particularly in the Huffington Post.
But the Enquirer laid low.
Then yesterday, on the same day that some polls showed that John Edwards had taken a lead in Iowa, the Enquirer fired both barrels of scandal at the former North Carolina Senator: photos of Rielle "in a family way" and sourced reports stating that the father was Edwards.
The Enquirer also had information about Hunter moving recently into a gated community in North Carolina and a key Edwards campaign staffer "watching out for her".
The staffer, Andrew Young (not the former U.N. ambassador), then claimed he was the father, even though he is married with children.
Some sources on the Internet said that Young was "taking one for the team."
A National Enquirer reporter showed up at Rielle Hunter's door and said that Rielle answered and claimed to the reporter that she "was not Rielle".
Of course, the Edwards' campaign will issue a denial, as they previously did in October.
There things stood at 1:15 am this morning.
And at 3:00 am, despite some reports that the Enquirer had pulled the story from its website, it was still there.
But by 6:00 am, it had disappeared from the NE website.
Was this scandal on or off?
However, at shortly after 8:00, we checked and the story had re-appeared.
Were people dreaming?
Several websites, which we can't find our notes, had screenshots of the Enquirer page, both before and after, the story disappeared.
And there things stand, at least until spokesmen for the Edwards' campaign can be assembled or the National Enquirer pulls the story again.
However, more and more sources are putting up the story, but now Drudge (at 8:29 am EST) has called the story "Developing".
You can say that again.
This is one tricky scandal.
I guess we'll have to do what people did before the advent of the Internet: just hang out and wait and see.
We have time.
MORON UPDATE:
Chuckie Adkins called us a Moron, but that was Okay. I know at least one ex-wife that would have agreed with him. We're still keeping the great Moron trophy we gave ourselves to commemorate the occcasion.
Then Outside the Beltway's James Joyner, in the most insightful reporting we may have ever seen, called DBKP's coverage "exhaustive". Joyner is exactly right: we're exhausted. Up all night, drinking coffee, chain-smoking stogies...Six or seven stories, the National Enquirer's original story was up, then down, now back up. We admit it: we're bushed! We can point to OTB's John Edwards Love Child Scandal as proof
Did Someone Say "Exhaustive Coverage"?
DBKP's John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandals Stories
Are we still gonna have that John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal Thing?
We're gonna demand that National Enquirer turn in its membership in good standing to the Royal Order of Scandalmongers.
They pulled the story?
As we reported last time, kiddies, the NE John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal (it does have a ring to it) was up at 1:15 and 3 am. It was down at 6:00.
Is this any way to run a scandal?
It's still down, but there a cute photo of Jennifer Anniston in a pastel T-shirt that made the trip over to the Enquirer worth it.
Surf's Up!
"John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal"
UPDATE: AT 8:08 AM EST---National Enquirer Story is Back Up!
It's still up at Drudge, though.
And Meme orandum.
So, we're gonna go with what we got.
Rielle Hunter Still Pregnant!!
Reille Still has Nice Hair
We Still Have Chuck Adkins' Trophy!!
Still Proud to Be one of Chuck's "Morons-2007 Winner"
National Enquirer: Make Up Your Mind, Or I'm Having it Without You!
So far in this scandal, by our accounting, we have:
1- Pregnant Ex-Edwards campaign worker
2- Names (Rielle Hunter was Lisa Druck)
1- Cool Trophy
1- Great Name for a Scandal (John Edwards Love Child Sex Scandal)
5- Stories that DBKP has written, including one with fake pix.
0- Stories up on National Enquirer's Website featuring a great name for a scandal.
1- Times I've been called a "professional blogger" in my so-called career.
4- Cigars left until we have to stop typing and go to the store to get more. (Can't have a proper scandal if you're short of nicotine, I always say.)
1- YouTube video of a John Edwards' ad they pulled, or something like that...we might throw it in here, just because we're big on multi-media presentations.)
65-T-shirts with "I'm John Edward's Love Child" on the Front and a Picture of a Trojan Condom on the back. We're not sure what to do with them, but I'm rooting for the National Enquirer to take a 3rd shot and we'll have a sale next time the first hour.
So, I'm not sure if I should take off my Scandal Party Hat or not.
Rielle was so cute, too.
At any rate, it was better than watching the eternal war between the pundits that see Ron Paul as the Second Coming of Hitler and the one that see him as the Second Coming of Christ.
And we never hurled chunks once during the whole "Love Child" thing, unlike the queasy feeling we get every time we have to read about how Mike Huckabee's gonna get over 1600 Electoral votes because he tells good jokes to the guys in the press tent.
And the John Edwards' Love Child Sex Scandal (it does have a ring to it, I'm telling you) was more fun than listening to people who profess to be strict secularists telling everyone that if Mitt Romney's elected, the country's gonna go to Hell.
Damn it.
I hope the scandal's not over.
At least, the scandal happened now, unlike the polls and the pundits who confidently told us who was gonna be Secretary of the Coast Guard in Hillary Clinton's cabinet.
I'm not giving up on this scandal thing, doggone it.
I'll be out for awhile.
When I get back, we're gonna have us a real scandal.
I gotta go get me some new sources.
by Mondoreb [images: nationalenquirer;nymag] [NOTE: I'm not giving up on this thing. I'll be back around noon EST, and I'd better see some hysterical denying from the Edwards' campaign when I do. Or somebody's gonna be in trouble.]