DBKP has been following the unfolding John Edwards scandal and we happened to notice that the main character in this sordid saga hasn’t been seen in a while, so we wondered, where in the world is John Edwards?

Following the Edwards Trail

July 21, 2008

Perhaps the last “happy” photo of Edwards we may see in a while. The July 21 press conference held with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announcing the $100m Next Generation Trust Fund. Edwards attended as Chairman of his new org., Half in Ten, From Poverty to Prosperity.

ALSO at DBKP: Click on banner to access over 60 DBKP stories and videos on the John Edwards scandal.

The Enquirer claims Edwards entered the Beverly Hilton Hotel at 9:45pm (PST) and spent time in a room reserved by his alleged mistress and mother of his love child, Reille Hunter. The Enquirer alleges that Edwards left at 2:40am where he ran from Enquirer reporters and hid in a men’s room.

July 22: Edwards heads to Denver, the next stop of his Half in Ten Tour, while the Enquirer publishes the story of Edwards late night meeting with Hunter online: Senator John Edwards Caught With Mistress and Love Child!

John Edwards, who has been a rumored vice-presidential pick for Barack Obama, said in Denver on Tuesday he expects his crusade to reduce poverty to play a prominent role during the Democratic National Convention.
–Denver Post

July 23

Edwards’ Half in Ten Tour, Houston, Tx., Wednesday, July 23.

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards stopped in Houston Wednesday on a national tour to tout an anti-poverty campaign that aims to cut the number of the country’s poor in half in a decade.

Edwards, from North Carolina, said he would “fight with every fiber of my being” to help low-income Americans.

The former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and one-time presidential hopeful joined local community and political leaders in a private roundtable discussion on poverty, the foreclosure crisis and similar issues hosted by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
–Houston Chronicle

Edwards is caught offguard by a reporter who asks about the National Enquirer at the following press conference:

Edwards’ garbled response: the Enquirer was called “tabloid trash and lies”.

The blogosphere chattered about Edwards’ Love Child while Edwards remained mum, the MSM silent. Edwards “disappeared” from the press circuit until July 30 when he reappeared in Washington, D.C. at the AARP studio for a taped interview and symposium. After the symposium, Edwards used the rear entrance to leave the Hotel Monaco where he brushed off a reporter from the Charlotte Observer with a “Can’t do it now, I’m sorry”.

July 31: McClatchy News service publishes a story on the birth certificate of love child, Frances Quinn Hunter:

WASHINGTON — The birth certificate of a child whom a tabloid newspaper claims is linked to former Sen. John Edwards doesn’t identify a father.

The document, obtained through a routine records request, shows Frances Quinn Hunter was born Feb. 27 to Rielle Hunter, a videographer who worked on Edwards’ presidential campaign last year.

Despite the fact Edwards was in the midst of promoting his Half in Ten national poverty tour, the July 30th appearance at the AARP symposium in Washington, D.C. was Edwards’ last known public appearance.

John Edwards Scandal: Dems Worry, Call on Edwards To Come Forward

On August 6th, McClatchy Washington published an article citing various Democrats who felt Edwards needed to come forward and a publicly “address” the National Enquirer stories of adultery and a love child:

If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is ‘no,’ he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention,” said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chair.

The McClatchy story highlighted the fact that the DNC convention was now two weeks away, unless Edwards “cleared” up the love child questions he risked not being invited to speak or, he becomes a “distraction”.

A former Edwards strategist, Gary Pearce, said the MSM had treated the Edwards’ story with “kid gloves” but strongly urged Edwards to either “stand up and tell the truth” or “take legal action” against the Enquirer.

On August 6th a lone reporter rang the buzzer at the Edwards’ estate in Orange County, North Carolina. According to McClatchy, no one answered the door while Edwards friends and staffers are refusing to comment.

Up until July 22, Edwards was considered by some to be either on Barack Obama’s shortlist for Vice-President or a top spot in Obama’s administration. Edwards was in the midst of his Half in Ten nationwide tour when the Enquirer published the details of his meeting Rielle Hunter at the Beverly Hilton. After his July 30 appearance at the AARP symposium in Washington, D.C., Edwards has not only been reclusive but has yet to issue a denial in the matter of the love child allegations.

Edwards did deny the affair through a spokesman in the original National Enquirer story on October 10, saying the allegations were “false, absolute nonsense”.

On October 11, Edwards, while out on the campaign trail in Summerton, S.C., told AP reporters the Enquirer story was “false, untrue, ridiculous, and made-up”.

The Associated Press reported today that Edwards told reporters, “The story is false. It’s completely untrue, ridiculous.” He said the story was “made-up.”

“I’ve been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years,” Edwards added, about his wife Elizabeth, who is suffering from incurable cancer, “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. So the story’s just false.”
–LA Times – Breaking news, John Edwards denies affair with campaign worker

The MSM turned a blind eye to the alleged Edwards’ affair so it was a surprise when the story resurfaced in November in the Daily News. On November 29, the Daily News’ Rush and Molloy published “Tabloid’s affair rumor dispelled, says John Edwards”. The article wrote that “John Edwards believes he’s stared down the National Enquirer”.

The article mentioned the Enquirer’s promise to follow-up the initial Edwards affair story on October 10. The Daily News cited an Enquirer insider who admitted “there’s a lot of smoke, but no smoking gun”. The Daily News also quoted Edwards who claimed the story “disappeared because it’s made up”.

The story didn’t “disappear”. On December 18, the Enquirer fired a second salvo at Edwards:

On the newest allegation, of a pregnant mistress, Edwards was never approached by reporters and therefore never had to issue a denial. It wasn’t until the third Enquirer story hit the stands, on July 22, where Edwards purportedly visited Hunter and the baby, that one intrepid reporter in Houston dared to ask Edwards about the Enquirer. Edwards’ reply, no denial, “Tabloid trash and lies”.

While Edwards has been reclusive since July 30, the Enquirer released its smoking gun on August 6, a photo of John Edwards purportedly holding “love child” baby Frances Quinn Hunter in a room at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on July 21.

The grainy photo is Edwards on the evening of July 21 holding what the National Enquirer alleges is his love child, Frances Quinn Hunter, in a room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. The second photo is of Edwards closing, a little belatedly, the curtains.

Ironically, when Hillary Clinton broke down and cried during the Presidential primaries, Edwards, who hid from National Enquirer reporters in the men’s room of the Beverly Hilton and refused to answer reporter’s questions after the July 30 appearance at the AARP interview in D.C. had this comment:

“I don’t really have anything to say about that,” he said, but then continued, “I think what we need in a commander in chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also very tough business. And the president of the United States is faced with very, very difficult challenges every single day and difficult judgments every single day. What I know is that I’m prepared for that.”

Edwards was purportedly on Obama’s shortlist for VP, a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

By LBG

Image – John Edwards – LA Press Conference
Image – National Enquirer – Edwards holding love child
Source – National Enquirer – Presidential Cheating Scandal
Source – National Enquirer – John Edwards Love Child Scandal
Source – National Enquirer – John Edwards caught with mistress and love child
Image – Where’s Waldo – DBKP file