Is John Edwards Still Lying?

[Tigermike 3,426]

Is John Edwards Still Lying?

Former Friend of Ex-Mistress Says Edwards Still Not Telling the Whole Truth

By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ

August 11, 2008

A one-time close friend of John Edwards' ex-mistress says the former Senator is still not telling the whole truth about how his affair with Rielle Hunter began.

Former senator repeatedly denied affair before finally admitting it.

Edwards told ABC News' Bob Woodruff last week (STORY | VIDEO) that he and Hunter began their affair only after Hunter was hired for the campaign to produce a series of films for the internet and she began traveling with him.

"She was hired to come in and produce films and that's the reason she was hired," said Edwards.

But that version of events is now being challenged by a one time close friend of Hunter's, Pidgeon O'Brien.

"The affair began long, long, long before she was hired to work for the campaign almost half a year before she was hired to work on those videos," O'Brien said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

O'Brien says Hunter told her that in late February, early March 2006 she met an amazing man from North Carolina named John at a New York City hotel bar. She referred to her new man as 'Love Lips', whom she said was married with small children and a wife who had been ill.

Some say Hunter, a devotee of new age spirituality, is given to exaggeration.

O'Brien said she later realized this man was John Edwards.

With no previous filmmaking experience, Hunter was paid $114,000 by Edwards' political action committee to produce a series of internet videos that included many scenes of the two on flirtatious banter.

Campaign finance records show the payments to Hunter's newly-formed film company did not begin until July, 2006. Edwards now insists that he told the truth that the affair did not begin until after she joined the campaign.

It would not necessarily be illegal to use campaign money to pay a mistress, but hardly in keeping with the high moral tone Edwards set during his run for President.

Former Edwards campaign manager David Bonior, to whom Edwards also lied, is outraged.

"People put their heart and soul into the John Edwards campaign for President of the United States," said Bonior. "They put their energy, they put their time, the put their resources in, they gave them their confidence and in the end, he wasn't there for them."

There's been no public reaction from Hunter. She had been living, under an assumed name in a $3 million Santa Barbara, California home arranged by Edwards' national finance campaign chairman.

Edwards has denied paternity and a campaign aide has come forward to say he, not Edwards, is the father.

Hunter's younger sister Melissa told ABC News many lies are being told about her sister.

"My sister, she obviously made a mistake. That doesn't mean she's a bad person. To the contrary, she's a great person. I love her very much. As a mother, she just wanted privacy and a safe environment for her child. And nobody should be judging her unless they walked in her shoes," said Hunter's sister.

Click Here for the Investigative Homepage.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5555391&page=1

[WinCrimson 61]

We really have no reason to believe that he is telling the truth.

I'm really disappointed in Edwards. It's one thing to cheat on your wife, but her cancer takes this to the next level. Really despicable move on his part.

[Justin5 20]

Yeah, I would say there is a very good chance he is still lying. Pathetic.

[TexasTiger 13,559]

Especially since he began the 2008 campaign, Edwards has struck me as insincere. He struck me the same way in his Nightline interview.

[Tigermike 3,426]

After Edwards confessed the affair to his wife, he restarted it, and was sexually involved with Rielle when she became pregnant.

Despite his denials, Edwards WAS aware that his former finance committee chairman, Fred Baron, was funneling money to Rielle.

Experts are now calling for a federal investigation into Edwards' use of campaign funds.

In an interview with ABC's Nightline correspondent Bob Woodruff on Aug. 8, the former North Carolina senator admitted for the first time that he engaged in what he called a "short" extramarital affair with campaign worker Rielle Hunter.

Edwards told ABC the affair was limited to 2006, before he confessed "the mistake" to wife Elizabeth, 59, who is battling a recurrence of breast cancer.

But Edwards denied he's the father of Rielle's daughter, who was born on Feb. 27, 2008. The ENQUIRER reported last December that Hunter had told close confidantes that he was the father.

In denying he fathered Rielle's baby, Edwards told ABC that he would "be happy" to take a paternity test to prove he's telling the truth. (He has refused numerous previous requests by The ENQUIRER to take a paternity test.)

Edwards claimed he ended the affair in 2006, but sources say he restarted the illicit romance after confessing to his wife.

Rielle soon became pregnant after the affair was rekindled, say sources.

The ongoing ENQUIRER investigation has also confirmed that he has been with Rielle and the baby three times this year in California.

"John Edwards is still lying!" a close source told The ENQUIRER.

"He lied to his wife Elizabeth, he's lying to Rielle and he lied all the way through his TV interview!"

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[Ranger12 46]

Of course he is lying. I have said it before, if he would have just fessed up to the whole thing when it was first exposed, then it would not be a story right now. The fact that he keeps lying about the child and his story does not seem to line up with supposed facts, he is just making it worse.

[AUTiger1 0]

Of course he is lying. I have said it before, if he would have just fessed up to the whole thing when it was first exposed, then it would not be a story right now. The fact that he keeps lying about the child and his story does not seem to line up with supposed facts, he is just making it worse.

He is a politician, that is what they do for the most part.