Former North Carolina Senator and Presidential Candidate John Edwards is not terribly relevant anymore politically. After cheating on his cancer-stricken wife last year, he seemingly fell off the face of the earth. So it almost seems cruel that he is now the subject of a federal inquiry being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office for allegedly misusing campaign funds. According to the AP, Edwards is being investigated for using political action committee funds to pay more than $100,000 to his mistress Rielle Hunter.
Rielle Hunter
John Edwards publicly acknowledged on Sunday that he is cooperating with investigators from the federal government who are focusing on whether he improperly used PAC funds to pay Rielle Hunter’s video production company in 2006 and 2007. Edwards has admitted that he was having an affair with Hunter at that time. Edwards denies that any payments were improperly made to Hunter.
If investigators determine that Edwards used PAC money for personal use, i.e. to pay hush money to his skank whore, Edwards could be charged with a federal crime.
Last year, Edward’s national finance chairman Fred Baron stated that he sent money to Hunter so she could move to California during the campaign, but denied that any campaign funds were used. Edwards claimed that he was unaware of such payments.
However, according to the AP report, a PAC associated with Edwards’ Presidential campaign paid Rielle Hunter’s video company in 2006 and 2007 for Web videos regarding Edwards’ campaign. Edwards will likely argue that those payments were legitimately made to pay for campaign services, and not sexual favors.
Even if the facts are viewed ENTIRELY in Edwards’ favor, I think all of us can agree that using public funds to pay your mistress for campaign services while you are secretly having sex with her behind your cancer-stricken wife’s back is NOT smart.
Mr. Edwards, really, what were you thinking?
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
“to pay hush money to his skank wh*re” that is a bit harsh to keep credibility, some one needs to tone it down.
May 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
At the very least, he’s guilty of being a jerk. Lock him up.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
“Mr. Edwards, really, what were you thinking? ”
This is what happens when your “mini me” does the thinking for you.
I wonder if he has a little toupe` that fits on that thing making it look just like him in that 500 dollar haircut ?
May 4th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Mike, Rielle Hunter was pretty famous for being a skank, even before this whole scandal. As a younger woman, she was the inspiration for the have-sex-for-drugs skanks in the books by Jay McInerny. Can you imagine the lifestyle she lead to manage to become the muse for his books?
Now, as a more mature woman, she has sex with a man that she knows is married to a another woman who is battling cancer. “Skank wh*re” is a generous description. A string of other epithets would also be appropriate.
May 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Yea, I’m no angel myself, done some questionable things in my life but I watched my father suffer and die from cancer and I cant imagine the mindset it takes to do something like this behind a loved ones back while they’re ill with this disease.
Rielle and Edwards are couple of pretty dispicable people.
I’m no big fan of Elizabeth but she is human and my heart really goes out to her on this one.
Logic tells me that if he’d do this to his wife theres almost no doubt he would screw over the campaign funds
May 5th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Really, who is the skank wh**e? J. Edwards, or Reille Hunter? I’m confused.
Most politicians are wh**es to their egos.
John Edwards was a joke before he even thought about running, especially the 2nd time.
This NC Democrat wants him to serve time, with Big Lance as a cellmate.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am
she’s not even good looking…. If someone’s gonna cheat on his wife, and knows that if he gets caught it could end his political career, at least make it a babe….
May 5th, 2009 at 8:57 am
[comment deleted]
May 5th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Bobcarp, I couldn’t agree more. Rielle may have been cute at one point, but now, she definitely is not worth ending you political career.
Micky, agreed. The worst part of all this is that “sickness and in health” vow that Edwards seems to have completely turned his back on. It’s one thing to cheat. That happens all the time. To cheat while your wife is fearing for her life…I don’t think even Clinton would do that.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I think calling her a “sk*nk wh*re” is completely inappropriate. Why is sexual promiscuity in a man expected — or even humorous — and completely taboo for a woman?
Edwards is the guy who went behind his wife while she had cancer, and it is Hunter who is the sk*nk?
May 5th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Rhayader, we are all highly critical of Edwards. We condemn him pretty soundly in our comments and post, and have insulted him plenty in the past as well.
Yes, Edwards is also a skank and a wh*re. They are both so, if that makes you happy.
And yes, calling Rielle a skank is totally appropriate. I’m not just referring to her promiscuity, but the willingness to have an affair with a married man with a wife with cancer. You do that, as far as I’m concerned any epithet in the English language is appropriate.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Yes, Edwards is also a skank and a wh*re. They are both so, if that makes you happy.
Hah, well yeah it helps. My point, by the way, was not necessarily to criticize this article; sometimes I am just bugged by the disparity between how we treat the Bill Clintons of the world, and how we treat the Monica Lewinskie’s.
I think it’s also worth pointing out that it was Edwards who was having an extramarital affair; as far as I know, Hunter was not actually cheating on anybody. That doesn’t mean she was ignorant of the situation — I’m certain she knew exactly what his marital status was. But isn’t it Edwards who is ultimately responsible for remaining faithful to his family? He is the adulterer; Hunter is merely an accessory.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Forgot to close my bold tag, my bad folks.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I know a lot of men run around on their wives but I cannot comprehend someone running around on a loved one with inoperable cancer. This is the lowest of the low. I used to like John Edwards but not he sickens me to look at him.
Elizabeth, you are a true inspiration. Hang in there and God speed. My husband was just diagnosed and it’s horrible to see a loved one suffer. I don’t know how John Edwards could look himself in the mirror. Now is the time a loved one needs support, not stress like this has put on Elizabeth.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Rhayader, I fail to see the point in making Edwards more culpable than Hunter. Drawing a line between cheating on someone and knowingly cheating with someone (and as a campaign filmographer, she knew everything) seems like a pointless one to me morally. Both are skanks and both deserve our contempt.
BTW, Elizabeth Edwards was on Oprah, and said she believes this is the only time John ever cheated. I hope that’s true too, Elizabeth…
May 5th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I’m not saying Hunter has no culpability. Ultimately though, it is Edwards’ responsibility to remain faithful to his wife. If he fails in that charge, we shouldn’t go blaming the “skank” he hooked up with.
If it wasn’t her it would have been someone else. And I don’t believe for a second that this was his first time. Maybe his last, but only because he got caught.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Rhayader, please develop some reading comprehension skills. No one is just blaming the “skank.” We are blaming them both. By calling Hunter a “skank,” no one takes any responsibility from Edwards.
Now please stop inventing arguments that don’t exist.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Ignatius you simply cannot have a discussion without resorting to insult and derision. Don’t you realized how small-minded that makes you sound?
I’m not inventing anything: I am defending Hunter, saying that she is merely an accomplice to Edwards’ indiscretion. She doesn’t deserve the blame here, and certainly doesn’t deserve to be called a skank for simply living her own life.
It doesn’t matter if you are also blaming Edwards. Hunter is innocent here and shouldn’t be disparaged by you or anyone else.
May 6th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Ok, now you are saying Hunter has no culpability? Just two posts ago, you said “I’m not saying Hunter has no culpability.” No reading comprehension skills and a short memory. Perhaps you should lay off the weed a bit?
And in this society (and just about all others with any sense of morals), being an accomplice makes you just as culpable as committing the crime. That’s true under our laws (see accomplice liability since you’re completely misusing the term by saying “merely an accomplice”).
Rhayader, you bring these insults on yourself. In some sick way, I think you like it. Why else would you be here 24 hours a day?
May 6th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Commenting here is something I do when I am bored at work (amounting to about an hour or so spent on RP during the day). And I would be happy to put my reading comprehension skills and memory up against anyone’s, no matter how much weed I smoke.
I was trying to plainly state my stance because you accused me of “inventing” a disparity between what I was saying, and what you were saying. Yeah I realize that in life there are shades of gray. Obviously Hunter was involved in Edwards’ infidelity; to that extent, of course she is culpable. But Edwards’ integrity is absolutely not Hunter’s responsibility.
I find it a little similar (though not exactly the same, of course) to the “she was asking for it” rape defense. No matter how provocative or tempting a woman’s clothing or actions are, she is not the one to blame if someone else crosses the line. Hunter is under no obligation to maintain the integrity of the Edwards marriage.