John Edwards admits to having affair (MORE: EDWARDS’ STATEMENT ADDED)
Looks like the Enquirer got at least part of it right after all:
Former N.C. Sen. John Edwards has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a campaign worker, ABC News is reporting.
Edwards told ABC’s Bob Woodruff that he had the affair with videographer Rielle Hunter, but that he did not father her baby. The interview will air on “Nightline” tonight at 11:35 p.m.
Edwards had vehemently denied the affair during his run for president last fall, when the National Enquirer first reported the relationship. When confronted last week with questions about the allegations from an Observer reporter, he declined to answer. And this week, several prominent Democrats told The Observer that Edwards needed to come forward to publicly address the situation.
Hunter, 42, gave birth to a girl in February, but a birth certificate obtained by The Observer last week listed no father. The Enquirer alleged Edwards was the father. He told ABC he knows he is not because his affair with Hunter ended too soon for that to be true. But he said he has not taken a paternity test.
Edwards told ABC his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family became aware of the affair in 2006.
Edwards denied Enquirer allegations that he was orchestrating the payment of money to Hunter to keep her from going public but said it was possible some of his friends or supporters may have made payments without telling him.
He made a point to ABC of saying that he did not love Hunter, and that his wife’s cancer was in remission when he began the affair. Elizabeth Edwards is now battling an incurable form of the disease.
Here’s more from the ABC Blotter story:
According to friends of Hunter, Edwards met her at a New York city bar in 2006. His political action committee later paid her $114,000 to produce campaign website documentaries despite her lack of experience.
Edwards said the affair began during the campaign after she was hired. Hunter traveled with Edwards around the country and to Africa.
Edwards said his wife, Elizabeth, and others in his family became aware of the affair in 2006.
[…]
Edwards today admitted the National Enquirer was correct when it reported he had visited Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton last month.
The former Senator said his wife had not known about the meeting.
Ok – if the child isn’t his and the affair is supposedly over, why would he still visit the hotel? Enquiring minds want to know.
I’d say the MSM has a lot to answer for here, too, considering Edwards’ name was being thrown around as a possible running mate for Obama.ΓΒ The mainstream mediots dropped the ball on this one, an we all know why (hint: The “D” in “D-NC”).
(Via Memeo)
Update – 7:20 PM: Here’s Edwards’ statement on his affair.ΓΒ A lot of it makes no sense, considering he’s acting as thoughΓΒ everything’s been over.ΓΒ If it was, heΓΒ still hasn’t explained why he was recently caught at that hotel in a room holding a baby. ΓΒ The line that struck out at me in the statement:
ΓΒ In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic.
Truer words have never been spoken … by him.
Flashback:ΓΒ Here’s what John Edwards said as a Senator during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.
Prior: