There’s a lot of history in here, but I’m just going to try to sum up as simply as possible. Initially, when John Edwards was trying to keep his former/current mistress Rielle Hunter under wraps, he arranged for one of his campaign’s former aides, Andrew Young, to act as Rielle’s partner/boyfriend, and raise the child as his own. Most sources agree that both Andrew Young and Rielle got paid off big time – most of it funneled through sketchy or outright illegal channels. Some sources say that John Edwards has definitely taken a paternity test, and Rielle’s daughter Frances was definitely his. Alas, Elizabeth Edwards denied this in one recent appearance – but I tend to think she’s lying.

Anyway, once the sh-tstorm commenced, Andrew Young sort of jumped ship. He’s been off selling his story piece by piece, angling for a book deal. This weekend, the New York Times got their hands on Young’s book proposal. The details are… sketchy. And I’m being kind. They include details of John Edwards’ promise to marry Rielle once Elizabeth died, and his promise that they would get married on “a rooftop in New York and the Dave Matthews Bands would make an appearance”. In one tragicomic piece of information, Young claims that one of the ways money was funneled to Rielle was through billing Edwards’ political action committee for “furniture”. Because that’s what Rielle was.

A man who once claimed to have fathered the child of John Edwards’ mistress says in a book proposal the former presidential candidate is the real father and that Edwards worked with his campaign finance chairman to hide that secret, according to a newspaper report published online Saturday.

The New York Times said the book proposal by former Edwards aide Andrew Young states he helped facilitate the affair between Edwards and Rielle Hunter. According to the newspaper, Young wrote that Edwards once told Hunter they would wed after Edwards’ wife, who has cancer, died.

Edwards told Hunter that the ceremony would be held on a rooftop in New York and the Dave Matthews Bands would make an appearance, the newspaper said, citing its examination of the book proposal.

St. Martin’s Press has said Young signed a book deal with the publisher in June and it involved a strict confidentiality agreement. A spokesman for the publisher did not immediately return a phone message and e-mail seeking comment Saturday.

Edwards has said the affair with Hunter ended in 2006. That year, Edwards’ political action committee paid Hunter’s video production firm $100,000 for work. Then the committee paid another $14,086 on April 1, 2007. The Edwards camp has said the latter payment from the PAC was exchanged for 100 hours of unused videotape Hunter shot.

The same day, the Edwards presidential campaign had injected $14,034.61 into the PAC for a “furniture purchase,” according to federal election records.

Edwards, a U.S. senator representing North Carolina from 1998 until his vice presidential bid in 2004, acknowledged in May that federal investigators are looking into how he used campaign funds. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and the U.S. attorney’s office in Raleigh has declined to confirm or deny an investigation.

Edwards adamantly denied during an interview with ABC News last summer that he had fathered a child with Hunter, and he welcomed a paternity test. His wife, Elizabeth, has said she doesn’t know if her husband is the father.

Young said in 2007 he was the child’s father. Hunter said around the same time that Young was the father and the birth certificate does not list a father’s name.

Michael Critchley, Hunter’s attorney, declined to comment Saturday. A lawyer for Young did not immediately return messages left at his office Saturday. Joyce Fitzpatrick, a spokeswoman for Edwards and his attorney, Wade Smith, said that Edwards would not comment Saturday. Smith has said Edwards may make a statement at some point in the future about the paternity of Frances Quinn Hunter, who is 19-months old, but there was no timetable for that.

Young hasn’t spoken publicly since saying he was the father in 2007 and has repeatedly ignored reporter requests for interviews. Young got his last campaign paycheck in the middle of November, a month before he and Hunter publicly declared through attorneys that he was the father. Fred Baron, who was Edwards’ national finance chairman and a wealthy Dallas-based trial attorney, said last year he quietly sent money to Hunter and to Young’s family to resettle in California.

Baron, who died following complications from cancer just a few months after Edwards acknowledged the affair, said he provided the money on his own, to “help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own.”

The New York Times said the book proposal states Edwards knew from the start that he was the father of the child and expended considerable effort trying to conceal that. The proposal says Edwards pleaded with Young to claim paternity and asked Baron to check whether a doctor would fake the results of a paternity test.

[From Huffington Post]

Do you feel like you need a shower? I do too. I know it’s totally weird, but I find the financial stuff some of the sleaziest parts of the story. I know, I know. The sex, the lies, the paternity shenanigans, all of that is really sleazy too. But all of the information coming out about the financial stuff is killing me. John Edwards is a really wealthy guy – and he never thought about paying off Rielle and Andrew Young through his personal accounts? He had to use campaign money?!? The last bit freaked me out too – they wanted to pay a doctor to fake a paternity test! Totally bananas. I have no words.

John Edwards is shown below in July, 2008. Credit: WENN.com

These days, whenever I see John Edwards’ smug face, I get nauseous. I actually used to feel a little barfy seeing John before the Rielle Hunter stuff even broke last year. I know a lot of people seemed to like him and his ideas at one point, but I’ve always found him to be too slick, too greasy, too phony. I was so disappointed when John Kerry picked Edwards for a running mate in 2004 – that alone, in my opinion, helped sink Sen. Kerry in the general.

As I follow the epic scandal of Rielle Hunter and John and Elizabeth Edwards, I find myself having very little sympathy for any parties. Elizabeth seemed to lay the blame for the affair almost entirely at Rielle Hunter’s feet, calling Rielle “pathetic” and all of that. Meanwhile John kept denying and denying that he was the father of Rielle’s daughter Frances. Last week’s the Enquirer’s cover story was the confirmation of what most of us have known in our hearts and our queasy stomachs all along: that John Edwards is the biological father of Frances (“granddaughter of a mill worker”). Now that it’s confirmed, the Enquirer’s cover story this week is about how John is going to move Rielle Hunter and Frances closer to him, in Wilmington:

John Edwards is moving the mother of his love child into his North Carolina neighborhood and will help raise their baby, The ENQUIRER reports exclusively.

In a stunning change of heart, the disgraced 2 time presidential candidate loser – who’s denied being the child’s father for more than a year – has embraced fatherhood and wants to be intimately involved in the life of daughter Frances.

The ENQUIRER also learned that his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth exploded in a rage when he told her of his parenting plans and that he’s moving his mistress and baby to Wilmington, near his plush $2.6 million waterfront mansion.

The bombshell development comes on the heels of our exclusive report last week that Edwards underwent a secret DNA test proving he fathered 18-month-old Frances with former lover Rielle Hunter.

Sources close to the 45-year-old blonde divorcee say they believe Edwards is paying for her move, although they have no proof of this.

“John is definitely behind Rielle’s move to Wilmington,” declared an insider. “There’s absolutely no way that he didn’t approve or arrange her moving closer to him – it’s all part of his new plan to do the right thing.

“John’s admitted to his family and close friends that he’s the father of Frances. He says he wants to be a part of her life and help raise his daughter.”

As The ENQUIRER exclusively reported, in the wake of the positive DNA test, attorneys for both Edwards and Hunter began hammering out an agreement for child support payments.

And the former senator made a decision to announce the paternity results before the conclusion of the federal grand jury looking into his possible violation of campaign finance laws, say sources.

Edwards’ long-suffering wife Elizabeth was furious that John intended to help raise the toddler and have Rielle as a neighbor, said a source close to the couple.

“Elizabeth was hit with an overwhelming one-two punch,” another source told The ENQUIRER.

“She’s always figured the child may be John’s, but the positive DNA result really floored her. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, John told Elizabeth he needed to be in his daughter’s life – and that Rielle was moving to North Carolina.

“He told Elizabeth he was tired of all the lies, and that’s why he was ready to publicly admit Frances is his baby. That’s when Elizabeth exploded! In a fit of rage, she grabbed a suitcase and started packing her things . . .”

[From the National Enquirer]

I get why this is being told from an “Elizabeth is so devastated” angle, but I have a question. Whatever happened to Andrew Young? Young was the former Edwards staffer who spectacularly fell on his sword for his boss, and claimed that Frances was his baby. Young and Rielle Hunter have been living together as a “family” for something like two years. The last we really heard of Young, he was maybe planning a tell-all on Edwards and the whole situation. Since then, Young has kind of disappeared from media coverage. Are he and Rielle still living together? Is he still helping to raise the baby?

As for the whole story about John moving Rielle closer to him… I sort of buy it. It could happen. I could see John trying to come out and play the victim, saying “Look, I’m trying to do the right thing, I’m trying to raise my daughter…” And I’m sure Elizabeth does find the whole thing devastating. She probably feels like John’s already lining up potential second wives for when she dies.

Last week we covered a report from the The National Enquirer that John Edwards’ former aide, Andrew Young, is planning to write a tell-all book about his time with the Presidential hopeful. It’s said that it will include details of how Edwards paid Young $20,000 a month and set him up in a posh mansion in exchange for getting him to claim that he was the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. (Edwards eventually admitted to the press that he had an affair with Hunter but claimed the baby wasn’t his due to “timing.”)

Young is currently trying to find a buyer for his book proposal, and according to the National Enquirer the proposal includes the bombshell that Young “found” a sex tape of Edwards and a then-pregnant Hunter getting it on. They seem to be basing this on another story and it doesn’t originate with them, so let’s hope they’re getting bad information:

Young will describe the sex video in his forthcoming tell-all book, according to a published reported.

The political aide’s book proposal reportedly says he found the shocking video while unpacking after he and his family relocated to a new home in California.

To hide the affair, Rielle had lived for a while in Young’s guest room – where a cheating Edwards secretly hooked up with her, according to the close source.

“John and Rielle think Andrew concocted the story that he ‘found’ the tape. They think he may have been the one responsible for recording it,” divulged the close source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, July 20, 2009]

I hope this isn’t true, or if it is – that the tape never sees the light of day. Maybe Young can get Edwards to pay a hefty fee for it to disappear. If there’s one thing I don’t want to see, it’s Edwards’ O-face.

We haven’t heard a peep from Rielle Hunter despite rumors that she was insisting on a DNA test for her daughter so that she could secure child support. She was also said be considering a televised interview to reveal her side of the story. Maybe she’s classier than we think, or maybe Edwards continues to see her and make sure his baby is well taken care of.

So far former Presidential hopeful John Edwards has avoided federal prosecution for allegedly funneling campaign money to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and a former campaign aid, Andrew Young, who claimed that Hunter’s baby was his. The National Enquirer, along with breaking this story, uncovered an elaborate scheme where Edwards set up Hunter, his love child, and Young and his family in a $5.6 million mansion in Santa Barbara paid for by a wealthy contributor. The Enquirer reported that Young was being paid up to $20k a month from a supporter along with being set up with his family in that posh free mansion with Hunter. Hunter was allegedly being paid $15k a month off he books by another Edwards supporter. Edwards admitted the affair and claimed the baby is not his due to “timing”. He has not taken a paternity test and Hunter is said to want one now that the money has dried up. We haven’t heard much about that in a while, though.

While doing press for her book this spring, Edwards’ long-suffering cancer-striken wife, Elizabeth, dismissed questions about her husband using campaign finances illegally. She said “it’s just not possible” because campaign finances are all public record. Elizabeth has publicly stood by her husband after his affair was made public by the National Enquirer and eventually the rest of the press. (According to the Enquirer, she kicked him out of bed after she found out about the affair, though and he’s now living in a condo nearby.)

This week The Enquirer reports that Edwards’ affair and gross misuse of campaign funds might not fade away so easily. Andrew Young, who is no longer on Edwards’ payroll, is writing a tell all. Many expect him to reveal how Edwards paid him off to claim he was the father of Rielle’s baby:

A year and a half after The Enquirer exposed Andrew Young’s role in the coverup of John Edwards’ affair and love child, Young is finally coming clean in a bombshell expose.

The book could provide the evidence needed for a federal grand jury investigating Edwards to indict the North Carolina politician on violations of election laws, say sources.

Young has claimed he is the father of the baby born to Rielle Hunter – Edwards’ ex-mistress. But investigators have been looking into whether Edwards funneled hush money to both Rielle and Young – who is married with three children.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, July 13, 2009]

They go on to say that The Daily Beast broke the news of Young’s book. It will indeed be a tell-all, and he’s currently shopping it around trying to get a buyer.

The Enquirer is also reporting on that Young just met with the grand jury investigating Edwards’ campaign finances. They say that it’s assumed he’s going to tell them everything, and that “insiders believe he is… testifying against his former boss in exchange for immunity.”

He may get immunity from prosecution along with a hefty advance and the proceeds from this book. This story is such juicy gossip, and as much as it pains me to see a politician I used to admire cheating on his wife, lying and stealing money I sure can’t stop reading about it. I know I would buy this book and so would countless other people. What surprises me is that Rielle Hunter has yet to grant an interview or pen her own tell-all. Maybe she’s classier than we assume, or maybe Edwards is still slipping her some on the side.

John Edwards is shown on 7/30/08. Credit: WENN.com