John Edwards' Affair, Tryst with Rielle Hunter? National Enquirer Claims Proof

It seems the National Enquirer has gone after former North Carolina senator and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards again, claiming that they have proof of John Edwards' infidelity, a story the tabloid has been doggedly pursuing since it broke the original story in October 2007 that Edwards was cheating on his wife, Elizabeth. This time, the National Enquirer claims to have caught him in the act. But things are not always what they seem.

Who Is Rielle Hunter?

The original allegations against John Edwards came, as most allegations in the National Enquirer do, through an undisclosed source, a friend of alleged mistress. The mistress? Rielle Hunter, an actress/writer/producer of a documentary short, "Billy Bob and Them," and some campaign webisodes done for the Edwards presidential campaign that got very little airtime. According to the Enquirer's unnamed source, Hunter became Edwards' mistress during the shooting of said webisodes.

Over the ensuing months, the National Enquirer and various other tabloids, blogs, and gossip columns would chronicle the pregnancy of Rielle Hunter, alleged mistress to John Edwards, allegedly the carrier of his "love child." At the same time, as Edwards continued his run for the presidency, he stood by his wife, Elizabeth, who has cancer. Without proof to substantiate the claims, however, the soap opera-ish undercurrent of lust and betrayal became a much ignored subtext of the Edwards campaign story.

What Is The National Enquirer Claiming Now?

The National Enquirer now claims to have proof of John Edwards' meeting with Rielle Hunter under suspicious circumstances. The Enquirer is reporting that one of their reporters, Alan Butterfield witnessed Edwards getting out of a BMW at around 9:45 p.m. on Monday, July 21, and entering the Beverly Hilton, where Hunter had reserved two rooms under an assumed name. When leaving the hotel at 2:40 a.m., Enquirer senior reporter Alexander Hitchen confronted Edwards and asked why he was visiting Hunter (and also if he would confirm he was the father of Hunter's baby).

According to the Enquirer, Edwards, surprised at having been discovered, kept dodging them and avoiding their questions, moving from hotel basement to hotel lobby to a restroom, where he stayed for approximately 15 minutes until he could be led from the hotel by security.

So Where Is The Proof John Edwards And Rielle Hunter Were Together?

As with so many things reported in the National Enquirer, there is no real proof that anything in this story is true. From beginning to end, we have reporters' accounts but no pictures. The story relates how Edwards avoided the Enquirer photographers in the early morning encounter, but one has to wonder: if you are staking out the Beverly Hilton, where celebrities are known to stay, where is your photographer? And where are the paparazzi, for that matter? That the entire story reads like a chase scene in a Beatles movie is also tedious (but that does not mean it did not happen, either). And no comments from patrons, who, as Hitchen observed, "Some guests up at this late hour watched the spectacle in amusement from a staircase nearby." These people did not have anything to say about a former United States senator being chased around a hotel in the middle of the night by reporters asking him to confirm his fathering of child in an adulterous affair? That may be the most unbelievable part of the story.

Was John Edwards Even In Los Angeles?

After dropping out of the presidential race at the end of January, John Edwards has focused his efforts on alleviating poverty in America and around the world. Edwards met with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Monday at a press conference to discuss homelessness.

So John Edwards was in the vicinity. So Rielle Hunter was staying at the Beverly Hilton. So they are guilty of proximity? There is, of course, the accounts of the Enquirer reporters who say they saw the Senator at the hotel, but, as of yet, nothing else. Although the story of their late night tryst might be authentic, the National Enquirer really has nothing to report but circumstantial, unsubstantiated, and questionable gossip. But, then, that is what the world's most famous tabloid is known for, is it not?

Sources:

"Senator John Edwards Caught With Mistress And Love Child," NationalEnquirer.com

"Presidential Cheating Scandal! Alleged Affair Could Wreck John Edwards' Campaign Bid," NationalEnquirer.com

IMDb.com

LdSentinal, "Is John Edwards Hiding Something? And Who Is Rielle Hunter (Missing Video)," FreeRepublic.com