NL- John Edwards is a scum bag for many reasons. I don’t have a problem with people hiring hookers. I have a problem with married men cheating on their dying wives and paying for it with OUR money.
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
By Murray Weiss
MANHATTAN — A call girl working for alleged "Millionaire Madam" Anna Gristina told investigators she was paid to have sex with former U.S. Sen. John Edwards when he was in New York raising money for his failed presidential bid, DNAinfo has learned.
Edwards is the first big name to surface in connection to Gristina’s alleged prostitution scheme run out of an Upper East Side apartment.
Edwards’ lawyer declined to comment on when reached Wednesday. On Thursday morning, his attorneys issued a statement to Politico and other news outlets saying their client "categorically" denied the allegation. Later Thursday morning, DNAinfo was contacted by Edwards attorney Abbe Lowell demanding a retraction.
DNAinfo stands by its story.
According to “On The Inside” sources, Edwards allegedly hooked up with one of Gristina’s high-end hookers in 2007 when the dashing pol from North Carolina brought his then high-flying presidential campaign to the Big Apple.
The one-night fling allegedly took place at an Upper East Side hotel suite and was arranged by an aide with help from a New Yorker familiar with Gristina’s prostitution ring, sources said.
The prostitute claiming to have slept with Edwards provided a detailed, first-hand account of their encounter to investigators in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in 2008 after they began probing Gristina’s operation, sources said.
“Most of the women don’t have any idea about the identities of the men they sleep with,” a source explained. “How would they know a money man from Wall Street or the face of a lawyer or banker who shows up?
“But the face of the national politician?” the source rhetorically asked. “She knew.”
Investigators found the woman credible, but never notified federal authorities, seeing no reason to involve the feds in a low-level local infraction, sources told DNAinfo.
At the time, investigators were shocked at the allegation because Edwards was then considered the All-American persona.
"On The Inside” sources said investigators were able to substantiate that Edwards was in New York on a fund-raising tour at the time of the alleged encounter.
Records show the Edwards campaign spent thousands of dollars for near-monthly stays at the Loews Hotels Regency at 540 Park Ave. on the Upper East Side in 2007, along with stays at several other Manhattan hotels including a Comfort Inn on West 39th Street.
The Loews Hotels Regency is also where he reportedly met videographer Rielle Hunter, who bore Edwards a love child while his wife, Elizabeth, battled cancer.
No charges, however, were ever brought against Edwards because pay-for-play sex is difficult to prove.
Edwards, 58, is facing a federal trial in North Carolina for allegedly using nearly $1 million in campaign donations to cover up an affair he had during that same campaign season with Hunter.