John Edwards – Rielle Hunter Scandal Back

John Edwards has been spotted back together with his alleged mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER!The married ex-senator from North Carolina – whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer — met with his mistress, blonde divorcee Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night July 21 – and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn’t leave until early the next morning. Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.

But a months-long NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation had yielded information that Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own. The NATIONAL ENQUIRER broke the story of Edwards’ love child scandal last year, when Rielle was still pregnant and Edwards was still considered a strong candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Both parties denied the NATIONAL ENQUIRER report and a close friend of Edwards’ came forward and said he was the father of Rielle’s baby. But sources told the NATIONAL ENQUIRER a far different story – they revealed that Edwards was engineering a massive cover up of his shocking infidelity.

Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.

But a months-long NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation had yielded information that Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own.

This is the National Enquirer we’re talking about here, not the Washington Post.  Then again, as Byron York points out, “the Rush Limbaugh oxycontin story was broken by the Enquirer, and the press ran with that one.”  Indeed, the Enquirer breaks legitimate scandals all the time.  But they run with all manner of nonsense too — they just don’t care so long as they sell papers.

I discovered the story via a spate of referrals to my previous post on this, “John Edwards Love Child Scandal” (see it for back story) and was going to relegate it to Gone Hollywood until I saw that it had reached Memeorandum.  As with traditional media (and Pajamas Media!), the fact that a story is being covered elsewhere makes mere rumor necessary to cover.

Edwards has been widely touted for another run as vice president, although I can’t see why he’d want to go through that again, especially with his wife in ill health.  Certainly, those facts would make the scandal worse, if true.  Frankly, I hope it isn’t.

FILED UNDER: 2008 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Bithead says:

    Ummmm Ewww.. She must not photograph well. Not that your pic here is worse than anything else I’ve seen of her.

    I begin to suspect John Edwards and Price Charles were separated at Birth. It would explain their shared taste in women, and Edwards apparently thinking he’s royalty.

  2. Re-Donk says:

    SHe is one over-bleached fugly old ho.
    I guess she’s got that degree of desperation these NPD’ers crave.

  3. HIstory is Being Made. says:

    Its pretty obvious from the Enquirer’s story that Edwards’ girlfriend herself tipped them off.

    She couldn’t stand to be a footnote in history. She wanted the front page. Even if just for an afternoon.

    Rest in Peace Elizabeth Edwards, be glad you weren’t alive to see this.

  4. DL says:

    Good for you for taking the high road on this. Infidelity is merely another sign of fundamental deception, which is indigenous to the the ruling class and loved by the voting class who just love being deceived.

  5. Korla Pundit says:

    Rest in Peace Elizabeth Edwards, be glad you weren’t alive to see this.

    Isn’t she still alive? It says above she “continues” to battle cancer.

    She may wish she weren’t, mind you.

  6. Jim Treacher says:

    Its pretty obvious from the Enquirer’s story that Edwards’ girlfriend herself tipped them off.

    That seems unlikely. Edwards was her meal ticket.

  7. Bithead says:

    I’m not sure I accept York’s argument.

    Let’s remember that the National Enquirer is home to a large number of Hillary Clinton supporters, not least among them David Kendall. So conceptually, Hillary Clinton’s fingerprints are all over that one at the off. But the reason behind such a move may not be apparent to the casual observer… and frankly, it wasn’t until last night that this occurred to me; I’m somewhat annoyed at myself for not seeing this earlier.

    John Edwards had all the endorsements of the various unions wrapped up, before he dropped out. Most of these are unions, the rank and file of which have shown some reluctance to vote for the “Black” guy.

    (I put black in quotes because of course Obama is half-white… but I digress..)

    (Oh… and yes, racism is alive and well among Democrats…)

    Obama chosing Edwards as a VP at that point would have been a no-brainer, and likley would have been enough to at least cause McCain some serious trouble in the general election. Edwards would ahve brought the union voter along with him. With the scandal though, Edwards is a less attractive candidate to say the very least, thus lowering the chances of Hillary Clinton gaining the White House. So, the National Enquirer offered up this story… true or not, it has the desired effect. And, for the record, I consider it true. So much for Union support for Obama.

    So where does this leave us? It leaves Obama with one less obvious choice for VP for one thing, it leaves him without union backing, barring anyone else in that position that the Unions will rally to, sice they’re clearly less than inclined to rally around Obama himself… and it leaves Hillry Clinton in a position once again to be taken seriously as a VP candidate. Else, it leaves Hillary Clinton in a position to be running against a Republican incumbancy.

    Either way, she’s not out of this thing yet, gang.

  8. Korla Pundit says:

    Yes, if a democrat gets caught screwing some blond on the side while his wife stays home with her cancer to keep her warm, and has an illegitimate child that he is publicly disowning, that somehow must be a huge conspiracy.

  9. Korla Pundit says:

    That’s the Two Americas. The one John Edwards tells his wife about, and the other one.

  10. Bithead says:

    Yes, if a democrat gets caught screwing some blond on the side while his wife stays home with her cancer to keep her warm, and has an illegitimate child that he is publicly disowning, that somehow must be a huge conspiracy.

    Heh.
    Thing is this stuff has been around for months. Besides, as Bubba showed us, they all do it. (Snicker)

    And NOW, it comes up again? Why? Gotta be to someone’s advantage for this stuff to be dragged out now. GIven the population of Clintonistas at the paper, it’s not a hard trail to follow.

  11. Starboy says:

    Give the man a break.

    It is obvious that he has superior genes, with his exceptional looks and intellect. Edwards is only spreading his seed to better the species.

  12. Jim Treacher says:

    Thing is this stuff has been around for months. Besides, as Bubba showed us, they all do it. (Snicker)

    And NOW, it comes up again? Why?

    Because he got sloppy and they caught him red-handed.

  13. Little Jimmy Norton says:

    It’s simply inconceivable that Edwards would do something like this while his wife battles breast cancer. Either the Enquirer is dead wrong, or John Edwards is the biggest scumbag the world has seen in years. I’m having trouble deciding which is more likely…

  14. Jim Treacher says:

    Frrrrrrunkus!