John Edwards Affair: Rielle Hunter, the Bird in A Gilded Cage

The John Edwards affair has all the makings of a novel along the lines of a bird in a gilded cage:

A former successful trial attorney ex-Senator running for President, on a platform of “poverty” issues and “moral leadership”, while cheating on his cancer-striken wife;

his wealthy trial attorney backer and former national campaign finance chairman who helped orchestrate a massive cover-up involving the ex-senator’s pregnant mistress;

the ex-Senator’s “beloved by the country” and full-fledged partner in running his campaign wife;

the mistress, a “flaky” New Age forty-something divorcee, now “hidden” from public view, like a bird in a gilded cage, in an exclusive beachfront home in California along with her baby, the purported “love child” of the ex-Senator;

the “right hand” man and former national campaign director of operations and now “fall guy”;

the right hand man’s younger beautiful wife.

Yet this story isn’t fiction, it’s real life with real people involved. The story is about the attempts by John Edwards to “disassociate” himself from an affair which resulted in a “love child”, the ensuing cover-up with his financial backer and former national campaign finance chairman Fred Baron, and the aftermath of collateral damage of compromised reputations and tattered relationships.

When the National Enquirer caught John Edwards sneaking out of Rielle Hunter’s Beverly Hilton hotel room in the early morning hours of July 21, 2008, Edwards purportedly ran and hid in a hotel bathroom until security guards could rescue him.

The Enquirer had spent months investigating Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter. Edwards, caught red-handed in Hunter’s hotel room in July of 2008, was the tabloid’s “smoking gun”. Not only was Hunter in the hotel room but so was her baby, the purported “love child” of Edwards.

August 8th, on ABC’s Nightline, along with a statement coordinated with the interview, Edwards made his one and only “confession” of the affair:

Nightline Interview with Bob Woodruff

“In 2006 2 years ago, I made a very serious mistake. A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else. In 2006 I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness. And we have kept this within our family since that time. All of my family knows about this and just to be absolutely clear, none of them are responsible for it. I am responsible for it. I alone am responsible for it. And it led to this most recent incident at the Beverly Hilton. I was at the Beverly Hilton. I was there for a very simple reason, because I was trying to keep this mistake that I had made from becoming public.”

Statement released with interview:

“I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then.”

This carefully crafted statement by Edwards, a former highly successful civil trial attorney, was designed to mitigate Edwards’ participation in the affair and to also disassociate himself from the other charge leveled at him by the Enquirer: that Edwards was the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter. Yet the statement also compromised the other peripheral participants: Edwards’ wife Elizabeth, his mistress, Rielle Hunter, his former right-hand man, Andrew Young, as well as Young’s wife, Cheri.

This wasn’t the first statement pertaining to the Edwards’ affair. Rielle Hunter issued three: the first, the day after the initial Enquirer story broke in October alleging Edwards had a mistress. A subsequent statement was published in the second Enquirer story published in December, alleging Hunter was pregnant with Edwards’”love child”and now living in North Carolina. In her statement, Hunter claimed Andrew Young, Edwards’ right hand man, was the father of her baby. A third statement was released the day after Edwards’ interview on Nightline regarding her baby’s paternity and DNA testing.

The first Enquirer story never named the “other” woman: her profession, or where she lived, yet Hunter published a statement tying her to Edwards and the Enquirer story:

“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.
–Mydd.com

Edwards’ admission on Nightline, that he and Hunter had an affair, proved Hunter’s October statement on Mydd.com was a lie.

The 2006 Timeline

Edwards was very specific in his timeline: the affair was “two years ago, in 2006″. This served the purpose of distancing himself in regards to the birth of Hunter’s child in Febuary of 2008. It also painted a “dark” picture of his wife, Elizabeth, that she knew of his affair but still supported him in his quest for the Presidency.

Edwards also claimed that the sole reason he was in Hunter’s hotel room in July of 2008 was because he was “trying to keep the affair from going public”, inferring Hunter had attempted some sort of “blackmail” scheme: “I was at the Beverly Hilton. I was there for a very simple reason, because I was trying to keep this mistake that I had made from becoming public.”

The same day as Edwards’ interview on Nightline, wife Elizabeth issued a statement on the Left Wing Blog, DailyKos:

“John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

– But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue.”

Elizabeth Edwards, in her statement on the blog, DailyKos, mentioned 2006, 4 times. John Edwards, in his statement, mentioned 2006, three times in the first eight sentences.

The same day as Edwards’ Nightline confession, and Elizabeth’s statement on DailyKos, another participant’s statement appeared in the Raleigh News Observer Blog: Edwards’ financial backer and former national campaign Finance Chairman, Fred Baron:

“I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to conduct a normal life,” Baron, a Dallas trial lawyer said in a statement, Rob Christensen reports.

“John Edwards was not aware that assistance was provided to anyone involved in this matter,” Baron said. “I did it of my own voilition and without the knowledge, instruction, or suggestion of John Edwards or anyone else. The assistance was offered and accepted without condition.”

The next day, Baron appeared in the Dallas Morning News:

“He (Baron) said Ms. Hunter and another Edwards aide, Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of Ms. Hunter’s child, were being dogged by tabloid reporters chasing rumors of the affair and pregnancy.

“I made a decision on my own, without talking to Edwards or anybody, to try to help them move to a community to try to get away from those folks,” Mr. Baron said.

He said he used his own money – not campaign funds – but did not disclose how much he provided. Both Ms. Hunter, who now lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Mr. Young worked under Mr. Baron for the campaign.”

During the Nightline interview Edwards denied he had paid any “hush” money to Hunter, he also denied he knew “anything” about Fred Baron paying money to Hunter, or Andrew Young.

Not only did Baron’s statement reinforce the meme that Edwards had no idea that Baron was paying monies to Hunter and Young, or that Baron was using his “own money”, it was another attempt by both Edwards and Baron to “disassociate” Edwards from the cover-up of his affair. Baron and Edwards would have us believe that Baron’s candidate, Edwards, whom Baron and his cronies had literally poured millions of dollars into Edwards’ campaign coffers, would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to move Edwards’ pregnant ex-mistress to California without discussing it with Edwards.

There was yet another statement issued by one of the participants in the affair: Edwards’ “right-hand” man, Andrew Young.

Young, a former long-time employee of Edwards since 1999, known as his “right-hand” man, issued a statement in December via Jerome Armstrong’s blog, MyDD.com. The same blog Rielle Hunter used to issue her false statement in October, the day after the first Enquirer story broke claiming Edwards had an affair:

Young issued a statement on the Jerome Armstrong MyDD.com site that he was the father of Hunter’s baby and for reporters to “leave” him alone so that “he” could make “amends” with his family. The statement served two purposes: to counter the Enquirer story with the claim that Hunter was now pregnant with Young’s baby and that Young and Hunter had taken up in 2006:

Statement On Behalf Of Andrew Young
December 19, 2007

As confirmed by Ms. Hunter, Andrew Young is the father of her unborn child.

Senator 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.

Pamela J. Marple
Attorney for Mr. Young
–Mydd.com

The statement, issued by Young’s attorney, claimed Edwards “knew nothing about the relationship” between Hunter and Young. By August, Edwards claimed he still “knew nothing” about whether Young was the father of Hunter’s baby:

WOODRUFF: And Andrew Young has declared publicly that he is the father of the baby, of Miss Hunter.

EDWARDS: I’m aware of that.

WOODRUFF: Do you think that’s true?

EDWARDS: I don’t know.

Which begs the question: how is it that John Edwards “doesn’t know” if Young is the father of the baby? Young had been Edwards “right-hand” man since 1999. Edwards had to have been aware of the Enquirer’s allegations in December, that Young was essentially babysitting a pregnant Rielle Hunter in Chapel Hill. Edwards would have us believe that he and Young had never discussed the situation. Yet Fred Baron, a man who lived in Dallas, who never really knew Rielle Hunter, would just whip out his check book to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Young and his pregnant “mistress” escape the “harassment” of Enquirer reporters? Wouldn’t, shouldn’t Edwards had been curious as to what was happening between his National Campaign Finance Chairman, his Director of Operations, and his ex-mistress? It’s as if Edwards was in the middle ring of a three-ring circus with Hunter, Young, and Baron performing high wire balancing acts while eating fire and Edwards was unaware of what was happening around him.

Young’s statement appeared in December 2007, the day after the Enquirer reported that a visibly pregnant Hunter had relocated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and now resided “down the street” in the same gated “upscale” community as Andrew Young, his wife, Cheri, and their three children. The Enquirer also reported that Hunter drove Young’s car and that Hunter had had dinner with the Young’s. The location was also a few miles from Edwards’ campaign headquarters.

Two days after the July 21 Enquirer story broke, the Enquirer reported Edwards’ political advisors were furious that Edwards had been caught sneaking out of Hunter’s hotel room, that his “midnight” rendevous had shattered more than just a marriage, but also years and millions of dollars down the drain in an effort to get their candidate elected to one of the two top spots on the Democratic ticket:

“After we posted the details of Edwards shocking meeting with Rielle, political sources close to Edwards revealed how he was candidly scolded by his advisors hours later.

One political source divulged: “His advisors told him they were furious that this had been brought out by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER right when Obama is considering whether he’s V.P. material with the Democratic National Convention (Aug. 25-28 in Denver) only weeks away.

“From what I hear, John was read the riot act by his people. The fallout from this could cost him the job of running mate. They told him Obama doesn’t want to pick someone and be embarrassed by the choice. This ‘bimbo eruption’ at this critical time will do him absolutely no good.

“While his people are not trying to tell him how to live his personal life, this baggage isn’t going to help him convince Obama that he’s the right guy to be his veep.”"

According to the Los Angeles Times, Baron’s “payments” may have broken federal campaign laws:

“Baron’s payments could present legal problems, said Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell, who specializes in campaign finance law and who represents Republican candidates and conservative groups. She said all payments to anyone involved in Edwards’ presidential campaigns — including Hunter and Young — should have been fully disclosed under U.S. campaign finance laws.

“That would undermine the purpose of the payments, which was to avoid public disclosure of the affair,” Mitchell said. “The idea that Edwards’ finance chairman can independently hand over substantial sums of money to two campaign workers at a time when Edwards is a candidate and to argue that that is not related to his campaign is a bit preposterous.”"

Even though both John Edwards and Fred Baron are successful trial attorneys, neither has threatened to sue the Enquirer for printing false stories.

Edwards had hired Hunter’s company, Midline Groove Productions, to film a series of mini-documentaries which would be posted on the web. Edwards paid Hunter’s company with funds from his political action committee, One America. Hunter was hired to film Edwards from July 1, 2006, to December 31, 2006. Sources claim that the mini-documentary was a “ruse” by Edwards and Hunter which allowed Hunter to travel with Edwards for six months, at one point to Uganda, while the two had their affair.

Hunter’s company, Midline Groove Productions, wasn’t incorporated until July 1, 2006, the same day she began working with Edwards. At the time, Hunter listed her primary residence in New Jersey, the same address as her partner in the production company, Mimi Hockman. The business was also registed at Hockman’s residence.

Edwards’ One America Committee paid Midline Groove a total of $114,000 for four “web based documentary shorts”. Midline Groove seems to be out of business. The four videos were put up on the Edwards campaign website then taken down after a short duration. Sources say Elizabeth Edwards had put 2 and 2 together and had Hunter fired.

Hunter spent six months following Edwards around the campaign trail, camera in hand. While Edwards’ claimed the affair was over and done with in 2006, Hunter was photographed filming Edwards, along with his wife Elizabeth, children, and parents, at a rally held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on the evening of December 30, 2006. Hunter had just accompanied Edwards on a four day “pre-announcement Presidential tour” through several states.

Vagabond Hunter

When the Enquirer outed Edwards’ affair in October, the then-pregnant Hunter was relocated to Chapel Hill where Andrew Young could “keep” an eye on Hunter. When the Enquirer came snooping around in December and printed photos of a visibly pregnant Hunter, Hunter, along with Young and his family were moved to Santa Barbara, California, where for a time, they all resided in one home.

Baron’s version, hardly believable at best, claims he paid thousands of dollars to Hunter and Young to relocate, $15,000 a month to Hunter, versus $20,000 a month to Young, to escape the “harassment” of “tabloid” reporters. More likely Young was handsomely compensated for “babysitting” the “flaky” Hunter. When Hunter had her baby in Febuary no father was listed on the birth certificate. Andrew Young’s mother doesn’t believe her son’s the father of Hunter’s baby and she said so, publicly.

Edwards, during his Nightline stint, claimed the sole reason he was in Rielle Hunter’s Beverly Hilton hotel room was to keep the 2006 affair with Hunter from “going public”. This leads to one to conclude, based on false information supplied by Edwards, that if Hunter hadn’t tried to extort Edwards, he wouldn’t have been in her hotel room in the first place. Therefore, if he hadn’t been in her hotel room, he wouldn’t have been caught by the Enquirer and he wouldn’t have faced public humiliation and the spectacular fall of his political career.

What really happened, in our opinion, is that Edwards was caught in yet another lie. He lied in October when he told AP reporters that he didn’t have an affair. It wasn’t until he got caught in July that he fessed up to having an affair, but, and it was a BIG BUT, he claimed he wasn’t the father of Hunter’s baby. Edwards also claimed he told his wife Elizabeth about the affair in 2006. If this was true, then why wouldn’t he have turned to his wife in 2008 and told her that Hunter was trying to blackmail him over a baby that was born well over a year and half later? Wouldn’t his “rock” have understood?

Edwards, during his interview, claimed he would be “glad” to take a paternity test. The next day, Hunter, through an attorney, issued a statement that she would not be subjecting her baby to a paternity test:

“She wishes to maintain her privacy and her daughter’s privacy,” Gordon said. “Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter’s privacy now or in the future.”
–NewsObserver

An interesting scenario, Edwards willing, in fact, seemingingly eager to take a paternity test. Hunter issuing a statement that she had no desire to. What was even more interesting was the fact that Hunter’s attorney, Robert Gordon, had ties to Fred Baron, as did the attorney who issued the Andrew Young statement in December.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Baron, who at first denied he had any participation in the selection of attorneys for Hunter and Young, admitted that “maybe he did”. The Times reported that Baron had “long-standing personal ties” with both attorneys. Which begs the question: Why would Baron support a woman who was unwilling to help clear his candidate, John Edwards’ name? Because Baron is still supporting Hunter, even though Young and his family have returned to put the finishing touches on a brand new million dollar home in Chapel Hill, despite the fact that Young has no employer and his last annual salary was in the $80,000 range.

The Bird in the Gilded Cage

Rielle Hunter has refused to talk to reporters. Since 2006 she’s lived with Mimi Hockman in New Jersey, in a rented home in Chapel Hill purportedly owned by one of Edwards’ backers, and in California, a $4 million estate with Young, his wife Cherie, and their three children, financed by Fred Baron, and now a beachfront home, again, courtesy of Baron. Hunter has no visible means of income other than the “good samaritan” Baron.

Andrew Young also refuses to speak to reporters. No one knows why either Young or Hunter hasn’t been willing to publicly exonerate Edwards from the love child issue, afterall, they both issued statements that Young was the father.

Rielle Hunter’s character has been compromised by Edwards, Baron, and Young. Hunter must not realize that the paint brush used in the cover-up has irretrievably painted her as a brazen divorcee who had simultaneous affairs with two married men: one running for President with a wife stricken with cancer, another with a younger, beautiful wife with three small children. Hunter’s character was further dimished when she opted to be supported by the likes of Baron rather than taking her tattered reputation in hand and raising her love child on her own. Hundreds of thousands of women are up to this task, Hunter chose to live in lavish surroundings supported by a man who backed her married candidate boyfriend. Society tolerates a woman who cheats with a married man, with one strike against her, sleeping with two married men at the same time, two strikes, having sex with a married man whose wife is battling cancer, three strikes and Hunter’s character is out. Even Hunter’s family has been shocked by Rielle’s behavior.

On August 13, Hunter’s sister, Roxanne Druck Marshall, gave an interview with Entertainment Tonight. Not only did Roxanne apologize to Elizabeth Edwards for Rielle’s behavior, but Roxanne also believes Hunter’s baby is Edwards.

Roxanne also believes Edwards’ lied in his ABC interview. Roxanne wants Edwards to “come clean” and tell the truth, to “get it over with”. Roxanne said that she hoped Elizabeth Edwards “realized Rielle’s family is very upset”. Roxanne also said that she believes Edwards has “Rielle hidden away somewhere” and that Rielle is “very much in love with John Edwards”.

But how long will Hunter’s “love” for Edwards last when she realizes that the purported coverup involved tarring her reputation and that of her baby? The same applies to Andrew Young.

Hunter doesn’t seem to realize that for Edwards to ever have a relationship with her he would have to admit he lied during his “confession” on ABC’s Nightline when he was supposed to be telling the country the truth.

Hunter doesn’t realize that Edwards will never forgive her for being the cause of his fall from public grace, no matter the degree of his own cupability.

Hunter doesn’t realize that having a baby with John Edwards doesn’t count, as he had four babies with his wife Elizabeth and he still cheated on her in the end.

Hunter doesn’t realize that, to the country, she will always be seen as a wanton woman, in it for the money, power, or fame, take your pick, courtesy of John Edwards and Fred Baron’s scheme to hide the relationship. In an attempt to salvage his own reputation, Edwards had Hunter’s viciously savaged as an opportunist willing to sleep with married men, an “extortionist” willing to use her baby for her own “ends”.

Andrew Young doesn’t realize that his character is now tattered. He’s seen as willing to sacrifice the sanctity of his marriage and family over his loyalty to Edwards. Loyalty that included monetary gain.

Young is now regarded as a man who cheated on his wife and then foisted his pregnant mistress within the family and the neighborhood, if we’re to believe Young and Baron’s version of the story.

Fred Baron is seen as a man who is willing to protect his “investment” in John Edwards, including paying large sums of money to hide an immoral relationship involving his long time candidate from the prying eyes of tabloid reporters and the public.

Elizabeth Edwards has been subjected to claims that she was part of the coverup, that she supported her husband’s campaign for President, all the while knowing that his platform of “moral leadership” was hypocrisy.

Rielle Hunter can’t hide in her “gilded cage” forever. Eventually Baron will end his lavish support. According to the Enquirer, Young, the man who publicly stated he was the father of Hunter’s baby, hasn’t paid one cent in support.

As for John Edwards, the MSM may no longer be interested in Edwards’ behavior but the public will, and the public has a very long memory.

By LBG

Image - Circus Elephants
Image – A Bird in a Gilded Cage

Tags: adultery, affair, andrew young, cheating, Cheri Young, edwards campaign, Elizabeth Edwards, Fred Baron, John Edwards, love child, Midline Groove Productions, North Carolina, rielle hunter, scandal, statements, transcripts