Rielle Hunter

GREENSBORO, N.C. - A former campaign spokeswoman for John Edwards testified Wednesday that his wife angrily confronted a key donor about the man's support for the presidential candidate's pregnant mistress in 2007 at a hotel in Iowa. Jennifer Palmieri also said she eventually distanced herself from Edwards after he acknowledged the affair in an August 2008 television interview but was not truthful about the baby he had with his mistress. The former aide later on the stand at Edwards's corruption trial while discussing her friendship with Elizabeth Edwards.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The jury deciding the fate of John Edwards in North Carolina finished a second day of deliberations Monday without reaching a verdict. The former presidential candidate faces 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines after pleading not guilty to six campaign finance corruption charges. The jury began considering its decision Friday, after nearly four weeks of testimony. Jurors asked Monday to see eight evidence exhibits. Prosecutors have accused the Democrat of plotting to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two donors to help hide his pregnant...

I HAVE many problems with the ridiculous rant Rush Limbaugh uttered against insurance coverage for contraception. Besides everything else, I object to his use of the word "slut. " It applies only to women, and it suggests that female sexuality is bad. I admit that it is useful to have a word that describes people who indulge their sexuality hurtfully and inappropriately, but I think it should apply to both sexes. I would suggest "slutton," short for "sexual glutton. " One might say, for example, that John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, and Newt Gingrich are all sluttons.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - A jury deliberated for about five hours Friday in John Edwards' campaign corruption trial on whether money from donors that was used to hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 White House bid. Jury deliberations will resume Monday, but the jury has already made several requests for evidence and office supplies, a sign they may be settling in for detailed discussions. The jurors heard about 17 days of testimony, much of it focusing on the sex scandal involving the Democratic candidate, his mistress Rielle Hunter, and his once-trusted aide Andrew Young, who initially...

The John Edwards corruption trial appears to be winding down without testimony, so far, from the former presidential candidate or his one-time mistress. Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell has said the defense still could close out its case Wednesday by calling Edwards, his oldest daughter Cate and Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom he had an extramarital affair while running for president in 2008. They also could recall Edwards' former aide Andrew Young. Edwards is charged with masterminding a plan to use about $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he...

RALEIGH, N.C. - The former mistress of John Edwards spent much of the day in a courthouse in Raleigh where a grand jury was meeting yesterday, as federal investigators examine the two-time presidential candidate’s finances. Rielle Hunter walked into the building in the morning through a back entrance, holding a young child. She left with the child about nine hours later. Edwards adamantly denied during a confessional interview with ABC News last summer that he had fathered a child with Hunter, and he welcomed a paternity test.

Federal prosecutors and lawyers for former presidential candidate John Edwards are asking that his criminal trial on illegal campaign contribution charges start a month later than previously expected. Thursday's joint motion in North Carolina proposes that jury selection begin Feb. 6. The trial was expected to start in January. A judge did not immediately rule, but such requests are not unusual. Edwards is accused of asking two wealthy campaign donors to provide nearly $1 million in secret payments used to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the Democratic Party's...

A federal judge in Greensboro may make a decision involving a contempt of court accusation in the case involving a purported sex tape depicting former presidential candidate John Edwards. U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles could decide Friday whether to allow lawyers in that case to subpoena federal prosecutors in the separate criminal case involving Edwards. Lawyers for Rielle Hunter want the subpoenas to stand as part of their effort to show that former Edwards campaign aide Andrew Young, his wife and their lawyers improperly shared information in the civil case...

A North Carolina judge has scheduled a hearing to review the civil case involving former Sen. John Edwards and a sex tape purportedly involving him. Judge Michael Morgan has scheduled the status review for Monday afternoon in Pittsboro. The meeting comes a week before a scheduled hearing on charges by Edwards' former mistress that a former campaign staffer should be held in contempt of court. Rielle Hunter is suing former Edwards staffer Andrew Young for the return of personal property, including the purported sex tape.

A former campaign spokeswoman for John Edwards will testify about a 2007 argument where the presidential candidate's wife confronted donors about support for her husband's pregnant mistress. Jennifer Palmieri is expected to testify at Edwards' corruption trial Wednesday that she was in an Iowa hotel room in October 2007 when Elizabeth Edwards confronted campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and his wife about the couple's financial help to Rielle Hunter. John Edwards was also there.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Attorneys hammered at the credibility of John Edwards and his once-trusted aide as arguments in his campaign corruption trial ended Thursday, leaving jurors to decide whether the presidential candidate's sex scandal cover-up amounted to a crime or a litany of lies. Jurors begin deliberations Friday on six counts of campaign finance fraud that could send Edwards to prison for as long as 30 years. They will consider whether to believe Edwards' arguments that he did not knowingly break the law when he sought to cover up an affair with his pregnant mistress, or...

GREENSBORO, N.C. - John Edwards's team wrapped up their defense Wednesday without calling the former presidential candidate, his mistress, or his daughter to testify, a move specialists say was intended to shift focus from a political sex scandal to the nitty-gritty of campaign finance law. "The defense wasn't sexy, but the defense doesn't want sexy. It wants an acquittal," said Steve Friedland, a professor at Elon University School of Law and former federal prosecutor who has attended much of the trial.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Lawyers for John Edwards indicated Tuesday their case was winding down, but they were not yet saying whether they will call to the witness stand the former presidential candidate or his mistress. Defense lawyers said they would make a decision later Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear when they would make it public. After testimony ended for the day with the trial still focusing on financial records, Edwards's team said they had not made a final decision on whether to call Edwards, his oldest daughter Cate, or his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — John Edwards' defense team rested Wednesday without calling the two-time Democratic presidential candidate or his one-time mistress to the witness stand, a sign of confidence after presenting little more than two days of testimony and evidence. The defense had called a series of witnesses aimed at shifting the jury's focus from the lurid details of a political sex scandal to the legal question of whether the Edwards' actions violated federal campaign finance laws.

The John Edwards corruption trial appears to be winding down without testimony, so far, from the former presidential candidate or his one-time mistress. Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell has said the defense still could close out its case Wednesday by calling Edwards, his oldest daughter Cate and Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom he had an extramarital affair while running for president in 2008. They also could recall Edwards' former aide Andrew Young. Edwards is charged with masterminding a plan to use about $1 million from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he...

The federal judge overseeing the criminal trial of John Edwards will sharply curtail the testimony of a key defense witness who could have raised doubt about whether the former presidential candidate broke campaign finance laws. Edwards' lawyers had intended to call former Federal Election Commission chairman Scott E. Thomas as their first witness Monday morning, but prosecutors objected. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles sent the jury home early so she could listen as Thomas answered questions to preview his intended testimony.

It has been a source of deep despair to me, and surely countless others, that the John Edwards trial isn't televised. It's the ultimate soap opera: Sobbing on the witness stand! Betrayal! A sex tape! A defense attorney who admits outright that his client is scum! The only thing it lacks is a cliffhanger; whether Edwards is guilty of misusing campaign funds is the least interesting thing about the show playing out in a Greensboro, N.C., federal court. The thrill is in the human drama, the cast of compromised characters, and the behavior unveiled at the far reaches of the political process.

RALEIGH, N.C. - His once-prominent political career is buried and the turmoil of his marriage is playing out in public. Now, John Edwards is facing a federal inquiry. The two-time Democratic presidential candidate acknowledged yesterday that investigators are assessing how he spent his campaign funds - a subject that could carry his extramarital affair from the tabloids to the courtroom. Edwards's political action committee paid more than $100,000 for video production to the firm of the woman with whom Edwards had an affair.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - A federal judge refused to throw out campaign corruption charges against John Edwards on Friday, meaning the former presidential hopeful will have to present his case to a jury. Lawyers for Edwards argued before US District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles that prosecutors failed to prove the 2008 candidate intentionally violated the law or that some of the alleged offenses actually occurred in the Middle District of North Carolina, the venue where he was indicted.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Prosecutors rested their case against John Edwards Thursday after calling to the witness stand some of his closest friends and advisers, many of whom gave dramatic, often unflattering testimony about the former presidential candidate whose once-promising political career collapsed amid a sex scandal. Edwards is accused of being the mastermind behind a plan to use secret payments from two wealthy campaign donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.