Did John Edwards Meet Rielle Hunter On March 20th?

Last night on the Larry King show, National Enquirer Editor David Perel dropped another bombshell -- that John Edwards has had three meeting with Rielle Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Perel has previously claimed that there were two meetings with Hunter, the one that Edwards has confirmed happened in July and one around the beginning of June.

So when did Edwards see Hunter aside from June and July? I think the date might be March 20th, 2008. Looking into Edward's schedule, he appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on that date. The Tonight Show tapes at the NBC studios in Burbank, California and usually wraps taping a little after five o'clock. Burbank is about a half hour from the Beverly Hilton hotel.

This may answer some questions that have been raised about the infamous 'Spy Cam' baby photos. For example, some have wondered about Edwards wearing a short sleeved shirt in the photo while reporters from the Enquirer stated that Edwards was wearing a long sleeved shirt when they confronted him at the Beverly Hilton. A careful reading of the Enquirer story that ran with the photos, however, shows that Enquirer never said the Spy Cam photo was from the July meeting.

In his ABC interview that aired this past Friday, Edwards gave an unusually parsed answer when asked about the photo.

EDWARDS: The picture in the tabloid. I have no idea what that picture is.

WOODRUFF: But you've seen it right?

EDWARDS: I did see it and I cannot make any sense out of that. When I went to this meeting you've already asked me about, uh, I was not wearing a t-shirt, I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I don't know who that picture -- I don't know if that picture is me, it could well be, it looks like me. I don't know who that baby is, I have no idea what that picture is.

I've spoken with sources close to the Edwards camp who told me that Edwards hadn't worn the light blue shirt seen in the baby photo 'in months' and who said that the photos of the baby was also months old. Significantly, these sources didn't deny that the baby was Rielle Hunter's, just that it was an older picture. This would be consistent with a March 20th meeting date.

Wikipedia says that Rielle Hunter's birthday is March 20th.

I spoke with National Enquirer editor David Perel who stated that the Enquirer has dates for all three meetings and plans to publish them in upcoming issues. Mr. Perel said he would neither confirm or deny my speculation about March 20th as being the date of a meeting between Hunter and Edwards.

UPDATE: I was just a guest on The Young Turks radio show. I mentioned the March 20th date and the host of show and Huffington Post blogger Cenk Uygur told me that he ran into Edwards on March 20th, jogging outside the Beverly Hilton hotel. Edwards said he was staying at the Beverly Hilton and that he was appearing on the Tonight Show later that night.

Follow Lee Stranahan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Stranahan

Comments

[coloradosiren]

You poor Enquiring minds who need to know. Get a LIfe.

[Swerinjer]

Stop it already. The human being already admitted his "mistake". The story is over.

[Chi55]

March 20th just happens to be Rielle Hunter's..­.birthday. She was born on March 20, 1964 according to her daughter's birth certificate.

[AuntSally]

$600 Billion in Iraq, and counting..­.
50 million w/out healthcare­...
Last place among developed nations in coherent energy policy...
Last place among developed nations in math and science education.­..
Millions losing jobs...
Millions losing homes...

And the blsht internet echo chamber can't let go of a retired politician who had an affair.
Sigh.
JFC... on a popsicle stick.

[loper2008]

Why does all this matter?

John Edwards has lied. He is probably still lying but right now he is a private citizen so it does not matter. I'm embarrassed at progressives for continuing to talk about this.

[rangem]

i wathed john edward s say on t v that he is willing to take a dna test to see if he is the father well if this is true he can file a motion in court to asjk a judge to compell ms hunter to allow a dna test come on john are you still lying to our face s

[Michale32086]

The issue isn't the sex...

The issue isn't even lying about sex. Bill taught us that you can lie and obfuscate thru your teeth about sex and still have a political career...

The issue is (as it usually is) the money trail..

THAT is what needs to be brought out..

And Edwards will NEVER put this behind him until the issue of what funds went to whom and for what comes out..

Michale...­..

[ayiticherie]

Amen.

[AuntSally]

The issue is... this is NOT an issue.

War, recession, energy, healthcare, education.­.. these are issues.

This is blsht.

[Michale32086]

Would you say the same thing if Edwards was a Republican??

Of course you wouldn't..­. You would be screaming to high heaven for full disclosure on every minute aspect of the situation.­.

One only has to remember how the hysterical Left acted during the Larry Craig issue to know this to be true...

And THAT is hypocrisy.­..

Michale...­..

[Fabienne]

Right on, Aunt Sally. The only way this story is an issue is to point out what an insubstantive, sensationalistic, irrelevant, mean-minded media we have.

[abigail1]

I don't care and don't want to know. he's not a candidate anymore, and he won't be one again. his political career was pretty well finished before all this and it sure is finished now. He probably is the baby's father. The affair probably went on longer than he said and maybe even continues today. But we already know he's a liar who put Democrats at great risk for personal political gain and set his family up to be humiliated in public. That's enough information for me, I really don't need any more gory details.

And i don't want to watch Elizabeth Edwards and her children dragged into some kind of national Jerry Springer who's the baby daddy story. She lost a son, battled cancer and now is dying. Her children, two of them very young, are going to lose their mother. If they want John's little performance on ABC to be the end of it, I am more than happy to give them that.

[johnnygoodwud]

lets see he lied about the affair, than lied about the lie. no he's claiming the baby isn't his. wanna bet?

[NotMcCain]

Who JOGS down Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills? And Uygur stopped him and talked with him when he wanted to be jogging?

That whole "he said" story doesn't ring true. That's a VERY tony area. Really not where you'd see a famous man go jogging in the middle of the day.

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

Cenk is going to write it up - but he talked about it on his radio show March 21, 2008 so there's a record of it.

I believe it wasn't Wilshire. It wasn't afternoon. Cenk said he lives in Westwood and jogs this path in BH in the morning. He saw Edwards, introduced himself. I'll let Cenk tell it though and there's the historical record of the show itself.

[NotMcCain]

Okay, then maybe the phrase above isn't exactly what he said, --"jogging outside the Beverly Hilton hotel". I'm not saying it's impossible, but that image just doesn't ring true to me in that area of BH.

I'll wait for the article then.

[cynicalgirl]

I know someone who has seen him jogging around DC, so I don't think it's far-fetched at all.

[Faith101]

I must say, Edwards is getting crucifed over this thing. He had to know it would come out eventually. I actually feel sorry for his family though especially the children. How would they ever be shielded from this.

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

John Edwards needs to start telling the truth as soon as possible.

[Ndw]

Why do think he's stayed involved with her? It's such a weird story - meaning, she's not the usual choice for a mistress. Is he trying to oblige her & thus, keep her quiet, or do you think there's a real relationship? He's certainly risked a lot, both for himself, his family, & he was even willing to risk the upcoming election - all for what appears to be bit of a flake.

[GuyFawkes]

You mean JE is a liar? No!

[manumoka]

Whatever the dates, I think we can safely say that John Edwards has lied, is lying, and will continue to lie. He squirms under pressure worse than Bill Clinton ever did, and because of his lack of sexual control, could have potentially done as much damage to the Democratic party.

(And I say this, having actively worked for Edwards in a state primary.)

[Fabienne]

Worse than Bill Clinton?

[forsmokey]

I'm glad we've moved from a now sane Britney Spears to cheating pol (as if that's news) John Edwards. I was lost there for awhile.

[374662]

Look closely at the picture. The baby was born on February 27th. There is no way this photograph is of a three week old baby.

[NCYvonne]

Agreed. The baby in the picture is older than 1 month. It might be from the June meeting. There's a picture of Rielle with the baby outside her Santa Barbara home. It's definitely the same baby in the picture. Definitely.

[Lee Stranahan - Huffpost Blogger]

It very well could be. My wife thinks it could be a younger baby - our daughter was holding up her head very young. It's hard to say from the picture but now that we know for sure that Edwards told someone he was staying at the Beverly Hilton on March 20th, it's just a matter of when.