The mistress of former presidential hopeful John Edwards would “get extremely upset and threaten to go public” whenever he discussed his love for his wife Elizabeth in the media, a former aide told Fox News Thursday as he released a voice mail tape in which a woman he said was Rielle Hunter can be heard complaining to Edwards about such an interview.
In a separate tape, a man said to be Edwards can be heard giving secret signs to the aide, Andrew Young, about his wife listening in on phone calls.
Young said the call was placed as Edwards prepared to roll out the bogus story that Young was the father of Hunter’s baby.
Young said Elizabeth Edwards is trying to obtain the tapes through the courts. He said the tapes are critical, because “It corroborates my story, which I don’t know that anybody would have believed me against any of the Edwardses absent that information.”
The first tape allegedly illustrates Hunter complaining to Edwards after he was on CNN talking about his affection for his wife.
“‘My wife is my moral leader?'” Hunter says, mimicking Edwards. “We’re all going to hell.”
She then says she has to go because David Axelrod is on.
“Every time Rielle would see the senator discuss his love for Elizabeth on TV and (talk) about her cancer, Rielle would get extremely upset and threaten to go public,” Young told Fox News.
Young said the second tape was recorded the day after Edwards asked him to “take the fall” — a reference to Edwards persuading him to claim that he, and not Edwards, was the father of Hunter’s baby. Young said the call illustrates Edwards explaining to him how to tell if Elizabeth was eavesdropping on a second line.
“If I call and say, ‘What happened? How did this happen? What’s going on?’ then that’s because Elizabeth’s standing there with me, because I have to — I think I’ve got to tell her about this, because it’s moving,” the man says on the tape.
Young is now at the center of the prolonged Edwards family scandal, as he releases a tell-all book about his former boss’ attempts to cover up his affair with Hunter. Edwards, who denied paternity for more than a year, recently admitted he is the father of Hunter’s baby. Edwards and his wife have separated.
Young said Elizabeth Edwards has threatened to file an “alienation of affection” lawsuit against him for contributing to the downfall of their marriage.
North Carolina is among about a half-dozen states that allow a person to sue a third party for contributing to the breakup of a marriage.
Jilted spouses typically use the remedy to seek money from their partner’s lover. The Edwardses are multimillionaires.
Young said he’s going to fight to prove that he and his family are not liars. Young said he found a sex tape in a home he rented for Hunter, and that he kept it to corroborate his story. He turned the tape over to a judge this week.