Dallas lawyer Fred Baron: I paid John Edwards' mistress to leave North Carolina

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080909dnmetbaron.29aa166d.html


Dallas lawyer Fred Baron told The Dallas Morning News today that he made regular payments to the woman that former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has confessed to having an affair with.

Mr. Baron, who was chairman of Mr. Edwards’ presidential campaign finance committee, said he paid money to Rielle Hunter to move from North Carolina to another location.

He said she and another campaign aide, Andrew Young, who claimed paternity of Ms. Hunter’s child, were being dogged by tabloid reporters who believed she had an affair with Mr. Edwards and fathered his child.

Mr. Baron would not say how much money he gave the couple to move. “The money was purely and simply to get them out of North Carolina and to get them into a stable place.

Was he having an affair with her too, or did he took a bullet for Edwards, so to speak?

I always offer this link for those who never watch news, listen to news, or read a newspaper or magazine, and insist on being spoon fed information that is readily available from hundreds of sources:

http://www.google.com/

what is now common knowledge, they go pound sand as far as I'm concerned. That goes for you too. I do not care if you believe me. Get it? I do not have to prove my trustworthiness to you. Got it now?

A little courtesy goes a long way. And if you can't manage that, then remember that old saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

And following my own rule, I just deleted my reaction to your post. I'm not going to answer your rudeness with rudeness.

This is so frustrating, because with all of this continuing to pile on, this Edwards deal is going to dominate news coverage up to the convention. It's not a good thing for Democrats to have this on the news 24/7.

Fuck Edwards for not having the backbone to get this out of the way early on. He had to have known this was going to be the outcome.

The child deserves way better than this. Disgusting. :puke:

nt

* could start a war with Iran and only a handful of people, mostly DUers, would notice.

But Russia...WHY????!!!

Maybe that's why Edwards has been denying this, possible legal implications in the use of campaign funds.

they will really shit bricks if somebody can prove she got campaign money that could be interpreted as a payoff.

Yes, he was using campaign money.

Please don't tell me that he was using supporters' donations to cover up his affair?

I reckon, if he did.

The FEC's business, too.

Did the lady in question report the hush money payments?

I bet they were substantial sums of money.

http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q2/

You can go to his section and then pick "disbursements by payee" to see who Edwards paid money to during his campaign.


I've scanned thru a couple months and found Mr Baron's name. Not that that alone means anything but I imagine someone/somewhere may be poised to scrutinize any of his campaign spending that has Baron's name attached to it.

April 2007: Baron, Frederick - $188,134.44
July 2007: Baron, Frederick - $213,080.89
Oct. 2007: Baron, Frederick $234,139.33
YEar End 2007:Baron, Frederick - $389,698.45
Feb 2008: Baron, Frederick - $57,428.00
April 2008: Baron, Frederick - $2,300.00

http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/YE/C00431205/B_PAYEE_C00431205.html

What an total self-destruction this is. The National Enquirer broke a story on the alleged "hush money" payments made to Hunter through a friend on his campaign finance committee. Baron also apparently lent Edwards a private jet for the campaign trail. Gotta hand it to the Enquirer, they did the real investigative reporting on this story. Probably won't get a Pulitzer, though.

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2008/08/internet-speculation-runs-wild-is-fred.html

Midline Groove Productions

Their sparse website: http://midlinegroove.com/

And here's one of the webisodes she made for him.

http://www.webcastr.com/default.aspx

And earlier articles on the issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/10/scrubbed-edwards-filmmake_n_67868.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/26/edwards-mystery-innocuous_n_66070.html

Interesting that huffpo used the wayback machine to find Hunter's website originally, but now it's blocked. Blocked by who?

http://web.archive.org/web/20060202225431/beingisfree.org/fame.html

For those who haven't been keeping up, like me. Hey, he wasn't my candidate. So sue me.

$100,000 for 4 youtube videos??


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/5933000.html


In 2006, Edwards' political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Hunter, who directed the production of four Web videos showing Edwards in supposedly candid moments as well as in a public speech talking about morality.

The payments from Edwards' One America Committee to Midline Groove Productions LLC started on July 5, 2006, five days after Hunter incorporated the firm in Delaware. Midline provided "Website/Internet services," according to reports that Edwards' PAC filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Midline's work product consists of four YouTube videos showing Edwards in informal settings as he prepares to make speeches in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, as he prepares for an appearance on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and travels in Uganda in 2006.

Edwards' PAC followed the six-figure payment with two smaller payments totaling $14,461, the last on April 1, 2007.

And Andrew Young. Supposedly out of his own packet.

Regardless of what he has done for us and no matter how much we admire him, it has to be done.

We would expect the same - and more - if this had been someone from the GOP.

you have to wonder what they are being paid off for if Edwards isn't the daddy.

For what? Fred Baron don't need anybody's money, he's richer than hell.

Oh, shit. Baron was funneling this money to her?

Nasssssssssty.

We can get over disappointment, but if this is true, this is something the GOP would do themselves.

Does the campaign really need a million dollars worth of legal advice? I dunno, just wondering.

Edited to add: and is Fred Baron really working that hard nowadays? I thought he was mostly retired. :shrug:

out of his own packet, out of the goodness of his heart? Without telling Edwards?

These checks were made out to Fred Baron individually. There's also smaller regular payments to
"Baron & Budd", Fred Baron's law firm. So if Edwards was paying for legal representation, those payments should've been made to the law firm, not the lawyer. Meaning, he was paying money to the firm for legal representation and ALSO paying Fred Baron personally over $1 million dollars. Why? What could Baron be doing to justify that kind of money? It can't be for legal services.

Baron assures that he paid Rielle Hunter out of his personal funds, but that just means that he cashed a check from the Edwards campaign & then made out a check in his own name to Hunter. It's almost like money laundering, & almost certainly a misuse of campaign funds. Maybe that's why Edwards is denying paternity. If he admits it's his child, the next question becomes: Is he supporting the child financially? Has he made child support payments? Where did the money come from? And if he really used campaign money to pay off Hunter, those are questions he desperately wants to avoid. The ABC interviewer actually brought up Baron & "hush money" payments in the interview, and Edwards became very flustered & defensive. The interviewer also brought up allegations that Edwards paid for Hunter's $6 million dollar beach villa? Ack. This is going to get very, very nasty & possibly even criminal.

The sex is scandalous. The child is scandalous. But the misuse of campaign money could well be criminal, and probably is. This is going to get much worse, and by Monday media will be talking about the same issues we are.

They had a falling out. But, one does wonder why Edwards needed to pay BOTH.

A $560,000 house. She lived there but the house stayed in his name.

Soooo...he bought her a house to move TO the state at some point (while the affair was going on in 2006??) and then paid for her to LEAVE the state??

That's the beauty of our system. We don't have to believe people we think are lying. Wrongdoers rarely SAY they have violated the law. We look at the totality of the circumstances to determine if they are lying or telling the truth.

It's very evident that Baron was receiving massive amounts of cash from the Edwards campaign, and that he was spending massive amounts of cash to support Edwards' girlfriend, and to hide her from media pursuing the story.

We can believe that the massive cash went from the Edwards campaign which then to the paramour without any knowledge by Edwards, without any scheme to fund those things through Baron. Or, we can believe what most average citizens are likely conclude: that Baron and Edwards are both lying to cover up their misuse of campaign funds to pay for Edwards' girlfriend's payments and support.

then paid for her new house in CA as well. I bet Hunter's Santa Barbara villa is in Baron's name too. According to ABC News: "Since becoming pregnant, Hunter has lived under assumed names in a series of expensive homes in North Carolina and, more recently, in Santa Barbara, California. Edwards denied paying any money to Hunter to keep her from going public but said it was possible some of his friends or supporters may have made payments without telling him."

That's not just one house, not just two, but a SERIES of expensive homes. And under assumed names, to avoid any connection to Edwards. All of this was apparently going on during the Presidential campaign. I"m thinking Edwards finally agreed to come (partially) clean to ABC News because they challenged him w/some of this information. But he's still weaseling in the hopes he can still cover up the worst of it.

I cannot believe he engaged in such a longstanding relationship, a myriad of inappropriate things, like hiring her to do videos, and so on.

Which they're supposed to.

Beyond that though Baron's evidently a really generous guy to his "friends and former colleagues."

But what we are looking at here is Edwards putting Baron in the position of being under suspect for misusing campaign funds. Had Edwards NOT gone to the hotel that night, this all would have been ongoing rumors, no one really with any proof.
This is all just IMHO, of course, but I go for this alleged scenario:
Edwards funnels the money thru Baron. Baron, thinking the truth will never see the light of day, helps out his "friend" and buys Hunter the house to live in NC (Nov 2006) and then helps to shuffle her elsewhere.


Edwards then blows the whole fucking thing out of the water by going to the hotel room and getting caught with the woman. If I were Baron, I would be pretty pissed that Edwards did such a thing after an extensive cover up of the money trail. So now Edwards has not only pissed off his supporters who donated money to him, he has also pissed off the people who may have helped him with the cover up, also...possibly exposing these same people to criminal charges if the FEC pursues the money trail.

People fall into lapses of judgment mainly because they wrongly believe they'll be able to get past the problem and no one will be the wiser.

Someone had to be providing tabloids with inside information. Was it someone from her family?

When John got caught recently at the hotel, someone let all the tabloid media know he was there.

I don't blame John and this guy Baron for sticking to their stories. They have to. They're stuck with it, because the consequences for both men of simply fessing up are potentially devastating.

Calling and telling all the local Dallas media, singing like a bird.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/08/fred_baron_i_gave_john_edwards.php

Baron issued a statement to The News & Observer a short while ago in which he said: "I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to conduct a normal life." Edwards, he claims, didn't know a thing about it -- same thing Edwards told ABC News today. Hey, Baron used to loan Edwards his plane; what's a little pocket change on top of that? So, yes, you were right. --

Update at 6:12 p.m.: Man, Baron is busy this afternoon. He also just admitted to Gromer Jeffers that he was the money man. Now we know why he hasn't returned our three phone calls placed to his cell earlier this afternoon; dude's busy fessin' up to everyone else.

"I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to conduct a normal life."

Notice, he emphasizes that this was INDEPENDENT. Independent of whom? Why would one place that word in the sentence, instead of leaving it out? Because he's trying to say that he didn't talk to Edwards or have it suggested by anyone, he just did it because, Gol Durn it, he's just a helluva guy and sort of had some idea of who these people were.

When did he work with them? Does he buy half million dollar houses for all his friends who need a place to live?

His story is unbelievable.

Which is pretty much every damn elected official in Dallas county. :(

I enjoy your observations on any topic. You have such good common sense.

I'm sick.

I'm sick that John did this, that he thought he could spend vast amounts of campaign money, that he got his top backers involved in this scheme.

John has to pay the campaign back ALL the money that was spent on this woman, her child, the relocation - all of it.

Are there no proofreaders anymore?

By the way, the article says the lawyer paid the "couple" to move. Who would be the "couple?" The woman is not married, is she?

and still married, AFAIK.

This is very messy. Edwards should have kept his dick dry, and especially avoided this particular Pandora's box of a woman. Her outrageous reputation is in large part what kept the tabloids going.

The article doesn't say.

The self-proclaimed father of the baby and his wife? They have two children, IIRC. I don't beleive Reille is currently dating anyone.

Then it says laywer paid the couple to move. Makes it sounds like the mistress was a part of a couple. I mean, who wrote this? Who is the couple? Jeez.

Edwards' mistress and Andrew Young. The lawyer claims he paid his own money, not campaign funds, and Edwards didn't know about it.

She was living in a house a few blocks away from Andrew Young and his wife. Gawker.com has been all over this story for at least a week now, you might be able to get better information from them. I was willing to give Edwards the benefit of the doubt this week, though it looked mighty suspicious.

the couple, as in the other article the lawyer admits he paid Edwards' mistress and Andrew Young.

I've always disliked something about John Edwards and figured he was a hypocrite loong ago. It's hard to like people who flaunt their wealth, live large, then embark on a 'Poverty Tour.' *puke* And the Edwards built the biggest, most ghastly house in South Carolina. Edwards is a phony in the same way Al Gore is with his giant energy wasting houses private jets, limos, and pioneer company to sell 'carbon credits.'

Sure, the kid is Edwards'. Really, no guy goes to meet with a broad and her baby at a hotel in the middle of the night for no real reason. They had to discuss strategy and how much she'd be paid off and it couldn't be done on the phone! There's nothing much 'to' Edwards. he's a typical super-rich ambulance chaser and his life was all about his and Elizabeth's ambition, not about the people of S.C. or the U.S.A. Better we learn it sooner than later, sayeth this major Obama supporter.

:wtf:

What did Al Gore or John Edwards ever do for regular middle class people? Nothing. And they never intended to. They are ridiculous people who are full of hypocritical elitist words.

Words, words, words, I'm sick of Mendacity and I'm old enough to be NOBODY'S FOOL.

What have Gore and Edwards done for regular people? Nothing. They are comfortable with elitist Hollywood types.

How dare you whoever you are ask me 'what are you doing on DU?'

How dare you.

You know nothing about me. Nothing. I come from native american/mexican honest people. I don't have to pass any loyalty test to some damn politician.

BTW, I proudly support Obama, a stand up guy who isn't a phony trying to profit off "carbon credits" which are his version of selling indulgences.

Obviously you have NOT been paying any attention to the extreme right turn Obama has made since the primaries.

And oh yeah, Obama is so for the working class-who have worked their asses off their entire lives for wages-that he calls them bitter. Nice elitist attitude Obama's got there!

You know, you've got Obama so high on a pedestal it's simply unbelievable. Especially considering how you have dissed two highly regarded leaders in the dem party like they are so much trash!

Guess you think it's okay because neither Edwards or Gore are running for office right now. Well, in the past on DU that kind of shit got people kicked off of DU!

So How Fucking DARE YOU?!!!!

:grr:

If this holds up to be true, this is an outrage to all of us who have supported and admired him throughout his political career. I always liked him, although something about him made me feel a little uneasy at times.

If campaign funds were used to support this woman, then I would call for a complete investigation into the legality of this. At the very least, I'll never respect a word the man says again.

Sorry if its too harsh, but this is seriously an affront to all of us.

It doesn't make sense or even square with logic, but I suppose it could be true. At this point, I don't know what to believe.

If Edwards isn't the father, surely he would have established that via DNA results, which he would have provided alongside his public confession. It would have mitigated his situation considerably.

I hate to say it, but the likely outcome seems to be that Edwards is the father, but he is paying someone else to claim paternity. That is how things
appear at the moment, given the players as alleged.

Hope it isn't true.

Edwards answer in the interview made me think there will be resistance to a paternity suit from the mothers side or even an admision from her that the staffer is the father.

This is going to get really ugly.

...if it comes out that he denied being the father while paying another man to claim paternity.

That would be about as low as he could get, denying his own child. That would be the end of Edwards' political career right there.

If this was merely a long past affair, we would not see hundreds of thousands of campaign money funneled her direction. We would not see a campaign worker marry her.

What is most likely?

1. Edwards is the father of the child.
2. He knows, the mother knows it, and her husband knows it.
3. Edwards has been providing large amounts of cash to her to hide all this and pay for the kid.
4. Edwards misused campaign funds to defray part of the costs.
5. Edwards lied to his top staff and contributors last fall to get them to stay on board.

fact that there are still questions makes me very uneasy.

If this turns into a democratic corruption thing, I'm going to be really, really pissed.

This will spoil the party's election message themes until Edwards flushes everything with truth.

Why would a white man pay a black man to claim paternity of a child that would not look black or mixed?

This Andrew Young is NOT the former mayor of Atlanta and UN ambassador; this Andrew Young is an attorney from North Carolina (who is, as far as I know, white).

Birthdate of 3/1966 and is a white male. Andrew Aldridge Young.


And has quite a court record history, apparently. Everything from "worthless check" to "criminal mischief" to "burglary" mixed in with a shitload of traffic offenses.

Scroll down til you see his name over and over.


http://webofdeception.com/#riellehunter

about him at all.

If campaign money was funneled to third parties to pay off the woman, then this is real news (vs. tabloid crap).

For the first time, I might start paying attention to this story.

there's tons of good people here on DU who (may have) got screwed over, and it's just a shame. I feel for Elizabeth and the kids and the donors.

I'm very glad I did not.

Scroll down a bit on the below link. The house that was bought for Hunter was $500,000+ according to the records on this site. It remained in Baron's name. The sale date to him was 11/22/06.

So does this mean that the house was bought during the 2006 affair so she could live near Edwards and then when the heat was turned up they/he helped her leave the state???


Guess this is pocket change considering his house in Dallas is listed as being $11 million dollar. And if he has contributed SO much money to the Dem party, why has he not bothered to even VOTE since 1994????

http://webofdeception.com/#riellehunter


WHY was Edwards paying him SO MUCH money per the FEC site?? Money to the same person who just happens to fork over $560,000 for the above house???

From the FEC site. Payments to Baron from Edwards in 2007:
Baron, Frederick 389,698.45

http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/YE/C00431205/B_PAYEE_C00431205.html


Lists all of Baron (and his wife's) donations to Edwards starting in Jan 2007--frequent donations at that.
http://newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=baron&city=DALLAS%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&zip=&xst=&next=50

to silence his hos with.

is going to drag this out and ensure it stays in the news for weeks.

What a pissant. He should come clean TODAY with all the details. The baby, the hush money, the campaign funds, the squirrel in his pants....

It now appears that hundreds of thousands of dollars went from the Edwards campaign funds to Baron, the lawyer for the campaign. Then, Baron, just coincidentally of course, funded such massive amounts to the girlfriend and for her living or whatever. If Edwards and Baron admit they did as we believe, they'll both be in huge trouble, so they will deny, deny, deny.


I know it was you, John. You broke my heart!

I wish I express my opinions as well as you do. It's like you always say what I'm thinking.

I get insulted and some jerk tried to say iam a Hannity listener (please, I hardly know who that is, except he's bad) because i don't put guys like Edwards and gore on pedestals. I like the sig line of somebody who says 'question authority.'

I never 'followed a party line' when I was young and I won't now that I'm older. Therefore i can't be 'betrayed.' It's dumb to trust politicians. However I do strongly support Obama.

:puke:

What's wrong with you? Don't dare criticise men who LIE to their families and who pretend to be what they aren't?

How about a guy who says no to gay marriage while cheating on his wife?

John Edwards is no good, and we are lucky we learned it!

I don't live down there but if I did, I'd be hoping that he would
change his RSVP. I'd say gracefully decline but there is no grace on his part anymore.


http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=36D9F4FF70726A2777D2E9FBEB028845?diaryId=6471

Since it appears that Senator Obama and staff do not feel John Edwards is now appropriate to speak before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the question becomes Is Edwards appropriate to speak before the Johnson-Rayburn-Richards Dinner in Houston? Without passing judgment, who is going to fill those $135 seats to hear a self admitted liarand adulterer who cheated on his cancer stricken wife?

<snip>

Most likely, the Dems in Harris County don't stand alone in this dilemma. Chances are that he was scheduled for other speaking arrangements in the future in Texas. For those explicitly for the Democratic cause, I sincerely hope his spot is replaced.

because NO ONE is perfect-not even your precious Obama. Sorry, but I don't drink Kool Aid.

Btw, I heard Oprah is in love with Obama. The story was in one of the tabloids at the grocery store. I'm sure you don't believe a word of that story now do you?

But you'll believe every ugly nasty rumor that can be dug up about Edwards or Gore or any of the white dudes you can't stand that are in politics, ain't that so?

Guess Kucinich is next on your hit list. :eyes:

Goldenrule, some people just love bashing others who don't agree with them. You appear to be one of them. I don't have to like Gore or Edwards and nobody can make me do so.

Neither has done anything to really help the middle class and I never expected them to since I saw they were as greedy and interested in their own ambition and wealth as any Republican.

I have a right to my opinion as you do yours. I don't have to like the people you choose to defend.

We both have a right to our opinions, but that doesn't mean they go unchallenged.

I've suffered through months of crap from people on this board because I don't like or believe in Obama.

So why don't you show me just exactly what your candidate has done to help the poor, the working class or the middle class? Because all I see and hear is empty rhetoric.

GR said: "So why don't you show me just exactly what your candidate has done to help the poor, the working class or the middle class?"

Um, Obama is not 'my candidate'. He is the Democrats candidate to be the President of the United States. I am perfectly in line with the guidelines of Democratic Underground.

Who are YOU planning to vote for?

Another reason i dislike Edwards is his sleaziness is hurting the Dems.

Why would he be doing that. It's that encounter afterward with reporters that caused him to come forward.

Senator Edwards could funnel payments to her through surrogates but he probably needed or was forced to agree to a personal meeting. He needed to 'work' on her to not go public, et cetera. He knows any telephone contact can be monitored and recorded.

The Enquirer has connections to the Clintons, right? The Clintons have long used top of his field detective Terry Lenzer who knew everything about Edwards there is to know.

Hillary finally decided to unleash the dogs of war when Elizabeth Edwards boasted (in Hillary's opinion) that she (Elizabeth) is a 'much happier person than Hillary Clinton.' Hillary loves good revenge, who doesn't? :LOL