Rielle Hunter’s friend: It started before the campaign hired her
posted at 11:45 am on August 11, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Via LGF. HuffPo accused Edwards two days ago of, ahem, “making a false assertion” to ABC about when the relationship began vis-a-vis when the campaign first started cutting checks to her. Now, a second source. Or is it?
Edwards told ABC News’ Bob Woodruff last week 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…
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.
That timeline jibes with HuffPo’s, which places the start of the relationship sometime in late 2005 or early 2006; the first check from the campaign to her film company wasn’t written until July. Does that mean we have two people corroborating the same facts now? Not necessarily: Sam Stein’s post on Saturday didn’t say how he’d obtained Hunter’s e-mails, but it did include the same “love lips” detail. Which makes me think maybe O’Brien was his source too.
Lingering exit question: If Hunter doesn’t want a paternity test, why was her sister busy Saturday morning calling Edwards’s bluff by publicly demanding one? Is it a good cop/bad cop thing, where the sister turns up the pressure to raise the price of Hunter’s (hypothesized) bought silence for Fred “The Best Friend Anyone’s Ever Had” Baron? Or are she and Hunter not working together at all and she was simply angry on her sister’s behalf? The other question, of course, is whether Hunter and her family are sufficiently close that her sister might know who the child’s father is. If so, you’d think the Best Friend Anyone’s Ever Had would be shooting them a little “generosity” too.
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Ugh. I’m officially over Edwards coverage. Next!
BJ* on August 11, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Let Greta Van Susteren & Nancy Grace cover it.
BJ* on August 11, 2008 at 11:50 AM
TOOL Pidgeon is more like it… Edwards is a TOOL>
originalpechanga on August 11, 2008 at 11:51 AM
The best friend anyone’s ever had might be a little circumspect about shoveling more cash to Love Lips’ baby-mama, now that the press are reluctantly covering the story.
Couldn’t the FEC take a look to make sure that Baron’s money wasn’t coming back to him in fees from the campaign?
I’m sure he’s a very good friend, but is he good enough to have his name dragged through the mud along with Silky Stallion’s?
Martin on August 11, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Edwards’ story will fall apart faster than a Chinese-made shirt.
Rhinoboy on August 11, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Love Lips. LOVE LIPS! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Zetterson on August 11, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Garbage pail lovers
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 11:54 AM
I think the money (and hiring) is where the story is.
Sure, you can give the press a pass for not wanting to cover a sexual affair. But there is no way we could have a President, VP, or cabinet official that paid his mistress with PAC money and has a high-level supporter paying her hush money. You think we were going to get tort reform with a trial attorney holding his strings like that?
So, that part is unforgivable for the press not to have investigated.
I’m also suspicious that Edwards announced the return of Elizabeth’s cancer so publicly as a way to keep the press from reporting on the Hunter allegations that were starting to surface.
MayBee on August 11, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Dam, she must be REALLLLYY good in the sack…
Romeo13 on August 11, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Pidgeon?! That’s your name? Really?!
Rhinoboy on August 11, 2008 at 11:57 AM
This lady watched Elizabeth Edwards on TV, get sicker in front of her eyes. How praytell did she cover the Edwards’ love and marriage. She probably used those interviews as a way to generate intimacy. I wonder if she ever met Elizabeth during the course of her shooting. I wonder if she ever had the stink of sex on her when she was in Elizabeth’s presence.
This lady is no lady.
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Did John wash his hands after feeling up this skank? Did he go around gladhanding reporters, and constituents with his smegmatic fingers?
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 11:58 AM
And the money flow is probably still in place as a part of a ‘no paternity test’ agreement.
digitalintrigue on August 11, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Baron is so rich (9 figures) that he doesn’t need to be reimbursed by the campaign. The bigger question is whether it’s an illegal campaign contribution to make payments to a candidate’s mistress while he is running for Pres.
Also, had Silky been elected Baron would have owned his ass. Of course, Edwards has the same trial lawyer’s agenda as Baron anyway. But there might’ve come a day when Baron wanted to push for something even too extreme for Edwards. That’s when he flashes a stack of cancelled checks to Hunter to get his way.
BuzzCrutcher on August 11, 2008 at 11:59 AM
She’s crazy…that could be good for the sex.
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 11:59 AM
A silky pony with love lips.
swami on August 11, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Something tells me, as this story unfolds, that Bill Clinton is going to be furious.
Had this guy been caught early on things may have been different.
AprilOrit on August 11, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Check out the photo of Reille Hunter with daughter Frances Quinn from this ABC link.
Jeez, how much do you have to pay in Santa Barbara to get a house that doesn’t have a chain link fence? Maybe Reille was asking for an upgrade in her meeting with Love Lips.
Buy Danish on August 11, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Ms. Hunter’s comments about Elizabeth Edwards are disgraceful. One would expect Elizabeth to be cool toward the woman who was shacking up with her husband and to get her fired, n’est pas?
I don’t know how, but women always know when their men are fooling around.
eaglesdontflock on August 11, 2008 at 12:04 PM
I dunno. That payroll is getting a bit large. How many people are involved in the big lie now?
Hunter complained that Eliz. would not look her in the eye and that she gave Hunter bad vibes or something. It does seem like a common m.o. that sluts try to get next to the wife or gf. I chalk it up to their sick need to deceive and feel some sort of superiority.
Oh, and Allah, keep it up. I find these stories highly entertaining. The coverage stops only when Edwards fesses up and drops off the face of the earth.
Blake on August 11, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Love lips and silky hair sounds like a porn shoot to me
William Amos on August 11, 2008 at 12:06 PM
The morning talk radio hosts here have (national campaign) experience doing the kind of work that Hunter was supposedly doing. They were very suspicious about the amounts that she was getting paid because it was far more than what one would expect. This story sorta backs up that suspicion.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Pigeon is apparently some kind of PR flack/music promoter in Austin. Rielle is kinda hot, next to her:
http://www.pigeonpublicity.com/sxsw/photos.html
BuzzCrutcher on August 11, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Pidgeon? Rielle?
I guess on the fringes of Hollywood it helps to have a goofy name.
PattyJ on August 11, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Her actions are despictable. Who the hell goes after a married man, with a cancer stricken wife?? Trollops and strumpets normally….
AprilOrit on August 11, 2008 at 12:08 PM
I doubt that is the house where she lives. She lives in Montecito Hts a gated community near Santa Barbara. Definitely, a 3 million dollar house would be on the low end in that area but it wouldn’t look that bad. Oprah lives in Montecito Hts to give you an idea how upscale it is.
Blake on August 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Julie banderas was pronoucing her name as Riley. I thought it was pronounced Ry-elle, with a french twist.
AprilOrit on August 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM
CAMELOT it is. Love Lips. Silky hair. Trash. Garbage. To borrow from the French = Camelot.
ich dien on August 11, 2008 at 12:12 PM
A heck of a lot more than $3M. But by then you’re getting into “gated estate” territory.
From a political standpoint, the one thing about this story that holds any interest for me is the decidedly subdued commentary about Hunter. Edwards is being called out as the dog that he is. There is huge sympathy for Elizabeth Edwards and their kids. But where is the criticism for Hunter who, after all, decided that it was OK to carry on an apparently years long affair with a married man and who must have been aware of the health problems of her lover’s spouse. That seems awfully cold and calculating to me.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Buy Danish on August 11, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Oprah Smoprah! Babs Streisand is the local Diva in that neck of the woods.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Let’s see…
Rielle…
Pidgeon…
Who’s next is this drama? Muffy? Biff?
swami on August 11, 2008 at 12:17 PM
My theory - Hunter’s vindictive about the end of her relationship with Edwards, and has been trying to shake him down. The baby isn’t Edwards’ - Hunter has just been using it as leverage to extort additional money from Edwards.
Hunter is the source for the National Enquirer story - in addition to taking payoffs from Edwards via his former staffers to keep the story from going public, she decided to take a payoff from the Enquirer as well, assuming no one would take the charges of a tabloid seriously. She lied to the Enquirer that Edwards is the father. She didn’t count on Edwards being forced to admit to the affair.
Of course, Hunter hasn’t told her family she knows Edwards isn’t the father, which is why her sister went to bat for her on the paternity thing. But now that Edwards has come clean on the affair, Hunter has no more leverage, which is why she’s now declining to participate in a paternity test.
As long as I’m speculating wildly - Bob McGovern is the father. You heard it here first.
Enrique on August 11, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Exactly. As well as anyone that found out about the little set-up.
MayBee on August 11, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Thank god there was an intervention before he became the perennial presidential candidate.
Otherwise he might have loaded up the tour bus with his “staff” and hit the road a few weeks after the inauguration.
“Honey, I got the bus filled with gas and I’m hitting the campaign trail tonight. Iowa is only 3 years away. I’ll call from the road…..(door slams and yelling over shoulder as he runs to the bus) “Good luck with the chemo.”
Yeah, I bet she was the official vidiographer.
Edwards Gone Wild 2008.
moxie_neanderthal on August 11, 2008 at 12:19 PM
You must be joking. The commentary about Hunter is far from subdued. Moreover, there is so much fascinating stuff in this bimbo eruption - Fred Baron (possibly the most corrupt trial lawyer ever who I only hope will be prosecuted by the IRS), Andrew Young (the former Edwards campaign worker and married father of 3 who claims that Reille’s child is his), Bob “Helpful Dude” McGovern, Reille Hunter (the inspiration for “American Psycho”), ad nauseum.
From a political standpoint, this bizarre soap opera reflects very poorly on the Dems.
Buy Danish on August 11, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Malibu is 100 miles from Santa Barbara.
I visited the home of Barry Zemeckis in Montecito. Oprah is considered THE local celebrity…even among celebrities.
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 12:29 PM
DaveC on August 11, 2008 at 12:31 PM
I was listening to the news and started to read this RIGHT at the same time O’Brian said the same thing in a news clip..
I’m still waiting for the rest of Hot Air to be read..
DaveC on August 11, 2008 at 12:32 PM
preview preview preview..
DaveC on August 11, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Please be more specific. It sounds like you have some really good information there. Please share the details.
Names, dates, etc…thanks.
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 12:33 PM
I read that she wanted to float an idea for a tv show that has men having an affair in order to get out of an unhappy marriage.
Seriously.
She isn’t silky’s first btw, you can bet on that.
ArmyAunt on August 11, 2008 at 12:33 PM
For Edwards to say the affair started after Hunter was hired as a videographer is absurd. If this was a merit selection, no credible campaign would hire a woman who had zero experience as a videographer. There are dozens of professional videographers with years of political experience in every big city. And they can do the work alot cheaper than charging $114,000.00 for making something like four videos that were only briefly used on a web site. The videos are amateur quality and even have flirting and cooing. It was obvious that hiring her as a videographer was simply a way for Edwards to funnel money to her and have an excuse why he and Rielle always had to be cheek to cheek. And it makes you feel quite angry at Edwards that he would take money that people thought was going to antipoverty programs and using it for his mistress. The guy had 36 million dollars from all those medical malpractice cases where he bamboozled juries in some dusty small towns. He didn’t need to use donations to keep his mistress happy. What an allround sleaze Edwards turned out to be. I feel sorry for his children who seems to be delightful youngsters.
Larraby on August 11, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Yeah Silky probably isn’t hers either.
The Race Card on August 11, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Taking a nod from Bill Clinton, John’s campaign bus had a stripper pole.
Note to John: Al Gore has a boat in case you need a place to crash for a few nights.
moxie_neanderthal on August 11, 2008 at 12:41 PM
After reading what this Hunter gal had to say about Elizabeth Edwards on Fox News Online earlier, I think Dog Edwards should now be greatly concerned who he hooked up with here.
Rielle Hunter sounds like she modeled herself off of the Glenn Close character of the goofy nutcase that was running around the landscape chasing after Michael Douglas’s character in “Fatal Attraction”.
The Edwards don’t happen to have a pet rabbit, do they?
pilamaye on August 11, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Cheating on your wife is so far outside of the Democratic character meter radar that even when she is suffering from cancer, none of the Dems care. Woman and minorities are useful for votes, everything else is open to personal enjoyment and ego stroking. I wonder if this women will be as vilified by the party of Fema-Nazis as Lewinsky?
Being a Democratic male comes with an entire series of anti-female get out of jail free cards from cheating all the way to murder, just ask Ted Kennedy.
Hening on August 11, 2008 at 12:45 PM
The big difference here is that I don’t think Mrs. Silky was aware, where as Mrs. Clinton knew full well and could have cared less. She played the jilted wife, which made it all even more pathetic.
Hening on August 11, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Depends on what your definition of
“is”“hire” is.Brat on August 11, 2008 at 12:50 PM
*covers eyes*
… I cant look.
Love lips? Oh the humanity.
Dash on August 11, 2008 at 12:51 PM
I always say Follow the Money. Where does the payout money come from?
Edwards’ personal wealth? He denied it.
Edwards’ campaign warchest? Money from small donors for his election bit used to hush up his affair?
Edwards’ ‘friends’ paying off his “ex”-mistress for what reason? Expecting Edwards in a position to make it worthwhile for the friends?
.
.
.
Anything else?
Sir Napsalot on August 11, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Well she said that Elizabeth was not very nice and the “Truth out her will eventually get out” or something like that.
Topsecretk9 on August 11, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Oh my! This soap opera is going to get GOOOOD…
Better buy some popcorn!
newton on August 11, 2008 at 1:05 PM
This is the #1 aspect of this rotten case that now has me calling the former Silky Pony “Dog Edwards”.
It is one thing to cheat on your spouse, but when your spouse is battling a major disease like cancer, then the act of cheating goes far beyond the word “unconscionable”.
It is like Dog Edwards is so naïve, so narcissistic, that he actually convinced himself that pulling something this horrendous was perfectly all right with him.
Which is why when you think that there was a possibility for a while that this clown was going to be President, the concept here goes from horrendous to simply terrifying, especially when you apply it to the present world situation.
Dog Edwards is someone with apparently no heart, no soul, and no conscious.
Just lacking these three aspects of humanity alone disqualify him from holding public office of any type.
pilamaye on August 11, 2008 at 1:07 PM
Well he is a trial attorney. The “no heart, no soul, and no conscious (sic, but accurate) are nearly necessities for that business.
Buford Gooch on August 11, 2008 at 1:12 PM
What is with these people’s names??? Is Izzie Shenazy to make an appearance next?
Jason Coleman on August 11, 2008 at 1:46 PM
“Tonight on ‘On the Record’: Late breaking developments in the Natalee Holloway disappearance…What? Wait…screw that. John Edwards love child reaches zygote stage!”
whitetop on August 11, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Nice one Allah. HAHA
Fred’s right up there with Susan McDougal, who went to jail to save Billy Jeff’s butt.
Dem’s just aren’t like the rest of us.
fogw on August 11, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Is there any other news to cover? Time to move on!
byteshredder on August 11, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Think of all the poor newborn babies you’ve just tarnished who will be christened today by their loony unimaginative liberal parents.
whitetop on August 11, 2008 at 2:56 PM
Providing plausible, appealing narratives that are actually full of lies. Isn’t that what Edwards did for a living? Think silicone breast implants, asbestos, Erin Brokovich, medical problems due to a difficult birth, Vioxx, tobacco. Lies, sucking as much money out of the system as possible. He lied, he’s lying, he will lie. How that for a conjugation. It’s like Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo. We’ll never know what happened. In this case, it doesn’t really matter. Just saying.
Paul-Cincy on August 11, 2008 at 3:01 PM
You forgot the sheer arrogance of doing it all while running a national campaign for the presidency and thinking nobody would be the wiser.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 3:02 PM
I don’t know about Pidgeon, but when I saw “Rielle” I said “Made up name”
I saw over the weekend that her real name is Lisa.
Brat on August 11, 2008 at 3:31 PM
I confess: I sired Rielle Milfhunter’s kid. I shagged her rotten.
Spanglemaker on August 11, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Love Lips Edwards meet Hot Lips Hoolihan.
Mallard T. Drake on August 11, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Q: Why did Reille Hunter’s sister recently demand John Edwards agree to DNA testing?
A: She wanted some hair of the dog.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 11, 2008 at 6:34 PM