Edwards' Ally Explains Payment To Mistress

Associate Says $14K Payment From Former Candidate's PAC Was For Unused Videotape

(AP)  A $14,000 payment to John Edwards' mistress from the candidate's political action committee - after she stopped working for it - was made in exchange for 100 hours of unused videotape she shot producing short Web movies for which she already had been paid $100,000, an associate of Edwards told The Associated Press.

The explanation, which Edwards' advisers declined to discuss on the record, is the first effort to justify the payment in April 2007 to Rielle Hunter, which came months before Edwards' chief fundraiser quietly began sending money himself to the pregnant woman.

Edwards last week acknowledged he had an affair with Hunter in 2006. The former Democratic presidential contender and senator from North Carolina has denied any knowledge of those payments to Hunter from Fred Baron, Edwards' national finance chairman and a wealthy Dallas-based trial attorney. Baron also has described his payments to Hunter as a private transaction.

But the earlier, $14,000 payment to Hunter is significant because its source was Edwards' OneAmerica political action committee, whose expenditures are governed by U.S. election laws. Willfully converting money from a political action committee for personal use would have been a federal criminal violation.

An associate of Edwards, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the $14,000 was paid to Hunter only after she relinquished about 100 hours of cutting-room floor videotape excerpts that were not part of four short Web videos she had produced for Midline Groove Ltd. in 2006.

When Hunter provided the last of over 100 hours of footage, the firm was paid as contracted for, said the associate.

Legal experts said it was important for Edwards to demonstrate the PAC wasn't paying Hunter merely to keep quiet about the affair.

"One thing that's possible is that she was still owed money from what she'd done before for the political action committee, but obviously there are less charitable explanations," said Richard Hasen, a professor specializing in campaign finance law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Edwards said several times in an Aug. 8 interview with ABC News the affair was short-lived.

But there is evidence that Edwards and Hunter spent months together in 2006, traveling the world and the country as he prepared for his second run for the White House. One of Hunter's friends, Pigeon O'Brien, told the AP that Hunter told her the affair with "John from North Carolina," who was married to a woman who had been seriously ill, began in March 2006. That conflicts with Edwards' statement the affairs started only after he hired her to produce several videos for his Web site, the first payment for which came in July 2006.

It appears from her videos that she accompanied him on several trips during the summer and into the fall: to Pittsburgh for a rally against Wal-mart Stores Inc., to Iowa for a speech to an education group, to New York for an appearance on "The Daily Show with John Stewart." She also apparently tagged along during a five-day trip to the African nation of Uganda.

Edwards said several times during his interview with ABC the affair ended in 2006, when he confessed to his wife Elizabeth that he had "made a very serious mistake, a mistake that I am responsible for, and no one else."

"And then she forgave me, and we went to work on it," Edwards said.

But Hunter was still hanging around Edwards late into the year. At the end of December, Hunter's videos debuted online. And a few days after Christmas, when Edwards formally entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hunter was alongside in New Orleans for the announcement. Elizabeth did not make the trip.

On Dec. 29, Hunter attended and filmed a rally in New Hampshire, and flew with Edwards from there to Reno, Nev. Shortly there after, Hunter later told a Newsweek reporter, she was fired.

Edwards said last week he did not plan to speak again about the affair, and a former campaign official who has been acting as a spokeswoman reiterated this week he will not discuss the subject. It's not clear where Hunter is currently living, and a woman who answered at her lawyer's office this week refused to take a message.

Hunter's sister, reached at her home in Nevada, also refused to comment.

"I talked to John (Tuesday) and he's not doing well," said David "Mudcat" Saunders, who served as Edwards' chief adviser on rural affairs. "He's just - to be very frank with you - he's just not doing well. He needs to be concentrating on himself and his family at this point in his life. He's a good boy. He just made a hell of a mistake."

Edwards has denied Hunter was paid to cover up the affair, and said he had no knowledge that Baron was sending money to both her and a married Edwards staffer who later claimed to be the father of Hunter's daughter. She was born in February 2008.

In a brief interview this week, Baron reiterated that Edwards and his wife were not involved with his actions. He said no campaign funds were used and that Hunter was not working for the campaign when he started giving her money.

"The bottom line to it is John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards had no knowledge of anything I did," Baron said. "I did it as a friend."

[tothestars2]

I wonder why CBS news has no report on the racist remark of dnc leader dean about republicans as other news org. have?

[barbaraf4]

Edwards is a deeply flawed man who, like many before him was brought down by an open zipper.

[platteman]

Why are all these other people explaining how the money was paid or who paid the money? Edwards is the one who should be explaining the whole thing. Why hasn''t he taken the paternity test? One day the kid will what to know, "Whose my daddy???" You need a score card to keep track of who did what. Don''t worry, Edwards will always have a job. he can always sue someone, sometime, somehow.
It is in his blood.

[citizenusa-2009]

Why is it that men with pretty wives have affairs and risk everything to hook up with "road hard and put away wet" ***? Lisa Druck is homely and (if you watch her interviews) is an old burn out. Why Why????

[tomcool1277]

Carole, McCain''''s ex, has said that he supported her and was a good father...they are campaigning for him.
Posted by MommaKat64 at 12:30 AM : Aug 16, 2008
*** Just because Amnesty Mccain''s ex-wife Carole is campaigning for him, doesn''t make the fact that he cheated on her ANY DIFFERENT! Elizabeth was still campaigning for her husband, and she still would be right now if he was the Democratic nominee. Amnesty Mccain is just as bad as Edwards, the same... they did the SAME THING!!!

[tomcool1277]

For those of you upset by Edwards--consider Cindy McCain--Do we really want any man''''s mistress rewarded with the job of first lady?
Posted by toldyouso12 at 10:20 PM : Aug 15, 2008
*** Exactly! Juan Amnesty Mccain cheated on his first wife also, with his current beer wife! Don''t bash on Edwards if you don''t want to have to make the same bashes on your Amnesty Supporting, wife cheating candidate Amnesty Mccain!

[tomcool1277]

WE ARE WISE ENOUGH TO KNOW MCCAIN AND HIS WIFE WERE SEPARATED - TECHNICALLY MARRIED BUT THEY WERE HAVING PROBLEMS.*******
Posted by fenner at 10:32 PM : Aug 15, 2008
*** Amnesty Mccain still cheated on his first wife also! They were still technically married! Amnesty Mccains first wife waited for him while he was a prisoner of war, and Amnesty Mccain rewarded her by cheating behind her back with beer girl Cindy! If you try to say anything bad about Edwards, then you better not be voting for cheating Amnesty Mccain!

[mommakat64]

On the most recent (audio taped) telephone call Elizabeth can hardly talk because she''s crying so hard, and sobbing, "That''s right." where appropriate. Carole, McCain''s ex, has said that he supported her and was a good father...they are campaigning for him. The McCain and Cindy issue is so old it''s like beating a dead horse...a non-issue. Edwards campaigning about being a Christian, wife-and-kids-adoring candidate, even bringing Elizabeth recurring cancer into his platform is very much a character flaw we should have seen coming. Sweet talking, Southern, ambulance chasing, smarmy lawyer with one sweet, huge mansion talking about two Americas should have rung some bells or dropped some red flags. He reminds me of all the TV preachers who live in extreme wealth and beg for money "for their work for G-o-d". Those charlatans are dropping one at a time now, as should John Edwards. And THAT is why he is such news...besides still lying about it. He''s made himself a "fresh" horse....

[liberty_1776]

If John Edwards told his wife about the affair in 2006, why the h-e-l-l is he so upset about it NOW?

Baron paid off Hunter, Young, AND Young''s wife & kids!

[liberty_1776]

''I talked to John (Tuesday) and he''s not doing well,'' said David Mudcat Saunders.

If John Edwards told his wife about the affair in 2006, what the h-e-l-l is he so about for NOW?

The truth is, HE DIDN''T TELL HER IN 2006! She just found out about it with the rest of us.

Think about it. John Edwards'' campaign finance head Fred Baron (look at his demented photo on Wikipedia) paid Hunter (and Young) to move away from North Carolina to California with Edwards'' friend Young. Young claimed to be the baby''s father, but he still lives with his wife and kids! Uhhhhh. So what is the REAL STORY?

John Edwards IS THE FATHER! Only an idiot would believe Baron would pay Young and Hunter off unless it was a favor to Edwards. Seriously. Think about it.

[liberty_1776]

Elizabeth Edwards should leave her husband now, while it''s not too late. John Edwards will NEVER change. Look at B. J. Clinton!

[toldyouso12]

For those of you upset by Edwards--consider Cindy McCain--Do we really want any man''s mistress rewarded with the job of first lady?

[demwatcher]

More Democrat spin and lies to cover their arses.

And Liberals will gladly drink this new flavor of kool-aid.

[liberty_1776]

How much of Elizabeth Edwards'' money is being funneled to pay off her husband''s bleach-blond s-l-u-t? Wouldn''t Elizabeth prefer that money go to her own children after she dies? How can she stand knowing that a chunk of her own kids'' future inheritance is going to John''s w-h-o-r-e?

[liberty_1776]

I figured it out. Edwards and Hunter (real name Druck) continued their affair after 2006, because the child is Edwards'' daughter. But when Hunter realized Edwards had no intention of ever leaving his wife, she decided to blackmail Edwards. Edwards'' turned to Fred Baron for help. Baron paid Young to claim he was the father. Then baron paid the Young family AND Hunter to move to California, so Young could watch Hunter and make sure she stayed quiet - the main condition of the continuing payments. When the payments eventually made Hunter feel like a cheap w-*** (she figured out Edwards would never admit the child was his), she called Edwards to meet her at the Beverly Hills hotel - but she also tipped off the National Enquirer. Edwards gets caught. Now Hunter wants MORE money, or else she''ll ask for a paternity test. Edwards has promised her that money, but WE''RE WATCHING NOW! She''ll never get a dime of that money!

[vancouverboo]

"I don''t want to talk about it!"

[kamsack50]

Of course this deserves to continue as a story!
At least for me. We expect celebrities to have different partners. These are just more celebrities. In Europe, extramarital relations is private and not related to the job as politician.
Only America, while extolling *** throughout every facet of the culture, holds its political leaders to such a standard.
Any good joke is worth reading about.

[minnick8-2009]

"The bottom line to it is John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards had no knowledge of anything I did," Baron said. "I did it as a friend."

And, why would Baron do anything "as a friend," if it wasn''t Edwards baby and Baron wasn''t doing it out of loyalty to Edwards? I hope Baron knows that Edwards will throw him under the bus when this gets uglier.

[minnick8-2009]

Maybe he got his jollies while his wife recovers from cancer. Yeah, A great man !!

Posted by john97068

After all, all he was trying to do was pick out Elizabeth''s replacement so that he would have Rielle waiting in the wings when Elizabeth dies. And for all we know, it might still work out for them. All they have to do is wait, and once Elizabeth is gone, Edwards and Rielle can be a happy family.

Prince Charles had Camilla picked out to replace Diana (shudder) years before Diana was was killed in her tragic (accident). Oh, come to think of it, there is still time for Edwards to arrange a tragic accident.

I wonder, will Rielle pick out new China? Or will she just use what is already in the palace?

[minnick8-2009]

The reason I have put these posts on here about Cindy McCain is because of blackisbest who keeps telling us to vote against Cindy McCain.

I''m voing against blackisbest.