Former Edwards Finance Chair Says He Was Unaware Of Affair

McClatchy Newspapers:

The former campaign finance chairman for John Edwards said this morning he was unaware of Edwards' affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter when he paid to move her to California last year.

In an e-mail this morning to The News & Observer, Dallas lawyer Fred Baron wrote, "I will re-state what I have previously stated on one point: I learned of the affair only a few weeks ago and had previously presumed that the 'tabloid' stuff was all bogus."

In an interview Friday with ABC's "Nightline," former Senator Edwards admitted to having an affair with Hunter but denied being the father of her daughter, born Feb. 27 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Former campaign aide Andrew Young, who moved to the Santa Barbara area with his wife and three children last year with Baron's assistance, released a statement online last year claiming paternity.

Read the whole story: McClatchy Newspapers

Comments

[JONNYMinesota]

THIS IS ALL SUCH A WASTE OF TIME!!!

[NTO08]

Say that to Elizaebeth­...ask her if her marriage was a waste of time...

[GuyFawkes]

I think it's time we dug up Strom Thurmond's love child again.

[PAposter]

What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. ~ unknown (to me, lol)

And what a tangled web this has become, and quite unnecessarily. So, now the money trail will have to be explained in detail.

First the requested interview, then the unsolicited generosity from Baron. Does Edwards really need media coverage so desperately, that he would do this to his family?

[CSNS56]

This is what I've been waiting for! Someone who is willing put Fred Baron in the spot light and expose the money trail. It has been reported on the internet that "Hunter and Young were not high ranking staffers" in the Edwards' campaign. How Baron got to know them personaly is what needs to be investigated. There's a story here on illeagal use of campaign money! Many thought the webisodes disappeared from the WWW to cover up the affair itself. Think again!! The lies are all about the money.

[NTO08]

Of course...t­his is why when fools say this doesn't matter, they are full of it...this a crime, and if campaign money was involved, the IRS will be doing a little digging into it also. I hope they do.

[PAposter]

"Baron . . . decided independently, without notifying Edwards, to help Hunter and Young "rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to conduct a normal life." He paid for their move from Chapel Hill to California­."

Ok, why the hell were they in Chapel Hill where the Edwards live? Secondly, Baron moved Hunter, the woman Young claimed to have fathered a baby with outside his marriage, to the same place he moved the Youngs and their three children?

Do you people think we're f*cking stupid?

[BeamMeUpScotty]

"Do you people think we're f*cking stupid?"

Sadly 50% or more of us ARE. And, the politicans know it.

[jsinclair]

The reason this story still has legs is because little contradictory pieces keep leaking out and the whole thing doesn't add up to "True".

Edwards would have done himself and his family a big favor to just have issued a press statement, "I had an affair, I've apologized, now we need privacy to heal." If that's not manipulative enough for him, he could have mentioned the added stress on Elizabeth's health of media coverage.

Instead, he thought he could lie to and charm America the way he apparently has done to his wife.

Didn't work. The money trail will come out now--and that's what will sink his future, not the adultery.

[HopeandChange]

It's prison for Edwards. Do you think McCain will pardon him?

[BeamMeUpScotty]

This is either one loyal staffer OR someone who has been well paid to lie for John Edwards. It is simply inconceivable to think Edwards' campaign accountant pays $8 million for homes for a staffer and Hunter with ongoing monthly payments of $15,000 to Hunter, never ask questions and not think this is hush money. And, for Baron to suggest he knew nothing about why this money was being paid out is flat out funny.

As the Bush administration knows quiet well, you can lie all you want as long as you're not under oath.

[truth2008]

Tonight Keith Olbermann mentioned JM's infidelity. Stated if the media continues to bash Edwards that sooner or later Mccains infidelity would come up.

Obama/Clark 08

[steamboat]

Has he mentioned JE infidelity? Just nosey.

[PAposter]

Did you even read the comment you replied to?

[HopeandChange]

Is really still on?

[Justsaynodeal]

I thought you just said KO brought JM's fling up; so why the "Stated if the media continues to bash Edwards that sooner or later Mccains infidelity would come up."?

[NTO08]

Anything Olbermann says is weighted down in excrement,

[liberalgirl31]

Will these monies paid to the mistress every be investigated? I wonder what she will do once the $$$ stops flowing? This pregnancy obviously was done purposely to milk Edwards for lots of cash. This woman is a low-life. With all her New Age stuff, she sounds a bit nutty, too. Not much to look at either, What did Edwards see in her?

[PAposter]

She kept telling him how wonderful he is, something wives stop doing when their intuition tells them something is not right.

[Woggles]

Th smart thing to do, would have been to tell the finance chair. Then he wouldn't be in the dark.
Pretty simple, really.

[01202009]

Except for the Ariana Enquirer, who gives a fast flying bag of popcorn?

[RodgerLodger]

This is substantially more gripping than another argument about energy independence.

[CSNS56]

Obiviously you're not one of the hard working class souls who contributed to Edwards' campaign. How do you think they feel about their money funding this novices' webisodes that suddenly disappeared from the WWW. Campaign money supporting his affair! I don't think so!

[jeanruss]

I am an Edwards supporter and do not regret supporting him. I think the coverage of his private life is tragic and has a purpose. I feel that corporations are making an example of him to warn others in Congress not to take up the mantle of trying to help the middleclass and the poor. They have shown that they want to destroy Edwards. I have never seen coverage like this, except for Bill Clinton, and he WAS president. While he was running, I used to watch in vain for positive coverage, or really ANY coverage of Edwards on this site. Now, he is PLASTERED here. Who really funds this site, and why do they want to destroy this man and his family? True liberals should be more disturbed by this witch hunt than by an extramarital affair. These happen every day of the week in Washington. Where was this dogged media when The DC madam was trying to expose Dick Cheney as a client? This selected coverage is very suspect. Will it be turned on Obama next? Where are all the McCain stories about his sexual antics?

[pilgrim7]

So he wanted "to help Hunter and Young rebuild their lives." Uh huh. Such a noble thought. And where does Young's wife fit into the scheme of things?

Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.

[RnR]

And nobody thinks this was a deliberate pregnancy? I'm female - betcha it was...nice move bimbo :)

[RnR]

Better yet, a little CIA/Mossad "honeypot" action

[HamletsMill]

CIA/Mossad would have sent someone a little more upscale.

[LASteve]

Is this the start of the Clintonian "smear the women" part of the scandal.

This woman may be a few bricks short of a load, or is overloaded, but John Edwards was the married man in this Greek Tragedy.

[roshni]

Yup, he's the one who was married. He's a cad.

[RnR]

I'm not a Clinton supporter, never was. I just think that it's a tad suspicious for a supposedly educated intelligent woman to accidently become pregnant. Dennis Kucinich is my guy.

[jrterrier]

no kidding. as a lawyer, he doesn't want to be seen as paying hush money to anyone. not to mention possible tax implications of the gift. did he pay a gift tax on the money. this is getting more complicated by the minute.

[NTO08]

Can we say disbarment? It happened to Bill, it should happen to him.