February 11, 2009 2:28 PM
- Text
Report: $$ Still Flows To Edwards' Ex
(CBS)
Former presidential candidate John Edwards knew his ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter, was receiving payments from his former campaign finance chairman, according to the National Enquirer, the publication that broke the story of Edwards' affair.
What's more, says the Enquirer, it has "uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying" Hunter.
After months of denials, Edwards admitted to the affair, but vehemently denied fathering a baby with Hunter, or knowing she was being paid.
On the ABC News broadcast "Nightline" Friday, Edwards said, "I've never paid a dime of money to any of the people that are involved. I've never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that any money's been paid."
If the story is true, asked CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano, the question remains, where did the money paid by the former Edwards campaign finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, come from?
"So far," Enquirer reporter Rick Egusquiza told CBS News, "we don't know that they were illegal. If they were contributions from the campaign, then obviously, there's some issues there with legality. But at this point, we're still trying to investigate that."
CBS News legal analyst Mickey Sherman told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Wednesday Edwards might be in legal jeopardy if it could be shown the funds were used for purposes other than the ones they were meant for.
"If you raise money to run for (office)," Sherman explained, "and if you take that money that people have contributed to you based upon the fact that they think their money is going to a presidential candidate, and you give it to a girlfriend of a God-knows-what ... that's a crime. But the question is, how do you prove that? And, she was somehow working for the campaign (as its videographer), so was the money she got so inappropriately more than what she deserved -- that's going to be the issue the feds are going to have to look at. ... It would be a federal offense."
The allegations could not only have legal ramifications, Solorzano observes, they would shed considerable doubt on Edward's denial that he fathered Hunter's child.
On Tuesday, Hunter's friend, Pigeon O'Brien told The Early Show she doesn't think Edwards has fully come clean, saying, "because Mr. Edwards told an untruth on national television, and I think it's unfortunate for the voters and for his family, for Rielle and her baby, and I think somebody needs to advocate for her."
The Enquirer is also reporting that Hunter "was whisked away on a private jet two days before" Edwards' appearance on Nightline.
In addition, the Enquirer says it "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. ... Enquirer reporters caught Edwards, 55, making a late-night visit to 44-year-old Rielle and their daughter at the hotel on July 21."
The Enquirer also says, "After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant."
What's more, says the Enquirer, it has "uncovered that Edwards' political operatives are still paying" Hunter.
After months of denials, Edwards admitted to the affair, but vehemently denied fathering a baby with Hunter, or knowing she was being paid.
On the ABC News broadcast "Nightline" Friday, Edwards said, "I've never paid a dime of money to any of the people that are involved. I've never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that any money's been paid."
If the story is true, asked CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano, the question remains, where did the money paid by the former Edwards campaign finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, come from?
"So far," Enquirer reporter Rick Egusquiza told CBS News, "we don't know that they were illegal. If they were contributions from the campaign, then obviously, there's some issues there with legality. But at this point, we're still trying to investigate that."
CBS News legal analyst Mickey Sherman told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Wednesday Edwards might be in legal jeopardy if it could be shown the funds were used for purposes other than the ones they were meant for.
"If you raise money to run for (office)," Sherman explained, "and if you take that money that people have contributed to you based upon the fact that they think their money is going to a presidential candidate, and you give it to a girlfriend of a God-knows-what ... that's a crime. But the question is, how do you prove that? And, she was somehow working for the campaign (as its videographer), so was the money she got so inappropriately more than what she deserved -- that's going to be the issue the feds are going to have to look at. ... It would be a federal offense."
The allegations could not only have legal ramifications, Solorzano observes, they would shed considerable doubt on Edward's denial that he fathered Hunter's child.
On Tuesday, Hunter's friend, Pigeon O'Brien told The Early Show she doesn't think Edwards has fully come clean, saying, "because Mr. Edwards told an untruth on national television, and I think it's unfortunate for the voters and for his family, for Rielle and her baby, and I think somebody needs to advocate for her."
The Enquirer is also reporting that Hunter "was whisked away on a private jet two days before" Edwards' appearance on Nightline.
In addition, the Enquirer says it "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. ... Enquirer reporters caught Edwards, 55, making a late-night visit to 44-year-old Rielle and their daughter at the hotel on July 21."
The Enquirer also says, "After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant."
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