Author of controversial Edwards book coming to Wilmington

Wilmington, NC: Andrew Young will be signing and reading from his book THE POLITICIAN An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 2:00 pm at Barnes & Noble located at Mayfaire Center, 850 Inspiration Drive, Wilmington, NC.

On Dec. 28, 2007, as Sen. John Edwards announced his presidential candidacy from Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, the politician whom many considered the bright future of America presented himself to the public as a man sincerely committed to his family and a leader with a vision to uplift the impoverished of our country. In the crowd was Rielle Hunter the woman he had brought to New Orleans instead of his wife, the woman who would help destroy his once-promising chance to become the most powerful man in the world.

Until now, the truth about the decade’s most profound political scandal has remained shrouded in secrecy as Edwards and Hunter have both refused to speak about it. In The Politician, the senator’s longest serving aide and the man who was charged with hiding a pregnant Hunter from the world, reveals the complete truth about the affair, the extensive the cover-up (in which he participated), and the ambition and manipulation that marked Edwards rise to power and his fall to the point where he is now under investigation by a federal grand jury. No book in recent memory has offered a more candid and disturbing view of American politics and the narcissism so common at the highest reaches of power.

Andrew Young was loyal to John Edwards for years, and so inspired by his talent and message of hope, that he devoted his life to his job as Edward’s closest aide, performing every task – from raising million-dollar donations to household chores — requested by the senator and his wife Elizabeth. Young admits that he nursed his own dreams of wealth and power, hoping to accompany Edwards to the White House. Loyal to a fault, he served the senator longer than anyone, and received, in return, the promise that “you are family.”

Though appalled when his boss betrayed his cancer-stricken wife, Young maintained his commitment to Edwards and even agreed to state publicly that he was the father of Hunter’s baby. He then took-off on an eight-month odyssey with Hunter, funded with money sent by super-rich Edwards supporters, that took him and his own family from one luxury hideout to another. Only after Hunter delivered the baby that Edwards had fathered, did Young come to realize that the senator was never going to keep his promise to “come clean.” His reputation and career ruined, he decided to tell the truth in order to restore his own name.

In The Politician, readers will encounter a breathtaking eyewitness account of betrayal, all documented by e-mails, voicemails, and other records. Among the more startling revelations are:

• While his wife battled cancer, Edwards maintained his affair with Hunter, even bringing her to the family home where they talked about the life they might share.
• Despite the threat it posed to his campaign, the Democratic Party, and the country, Edwards asked Young to facilitate his affair – obtaining off-the-books money and arranging for secret conversations and rendezvous – with a mistress who became ever-more-demanding as the 2008 primary season approached.
• Edwards lied, repeatedly, to his wife, the press, and the nation as he first denied his extramarital involvement and then denied fathering Hunter’s child.
• As she discovered the truth about her husband, Elizabeth Edwards raged at him, and Andrew Young. While publicly blaming Young for her husband’s downfall, and berating him and his wife, Elizabeth also tried to rein-in her husband by taking his phones and car keys and monitoring him as he travelled.
• Rielle Hunter and Edwards made a sex video which she carelessly left behind when she moved out of Andrew Young’s house and which leaves no doubt about the relationship..

A cautionary tale about the dangers of unquestioned obedience and the swift repercussions for people who think the basic rules of moral behavior do not apply to them. Finally, THE POLITICIAN tells how even the most idealistic and well-meaning politician and staffer can allow themselves to devolve into a world where arrogance and deceit become business as usual. No one who reads it will ever again confuse a politician’s image and his or her true character.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After earning a bachelors degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree at the Wake Forest University School of Law, ANDREW YOUNG was a volunteer for John Edwards’ winning campaign for U.S. Senate. Hired in 1999, Young became Edwards’ most trusted aide, raising more than $10 million for his various causes and playing a key role in his efforts to become President of the United States. Now a private citizen, he lives in Chapel Hill with his wife Cheri and their three children.
– – – – – – –
Don’t Miss These Key Revelations in
THE POLITICIAN:

• While Elizabeth Edwards is away promoting her book about her on-going battle with cancer, John Edwards entertains his mistress in the family home.

• Initially believing her husband and thinking that Andrew Young’s scandal of having a pregnant mistress will derail John Edwards’s presidential campaign, Elizabeth Edwards begins sending harassing emails and making angry phone calls to Andrew Young and his wife, Cheri. (260) (290)

• “For all of his [John Edwards’s] life he had been told he was special, and every year brought him ever more adulation. He had wealth, fame, and a younger woman who called him ‘the king’ and promised to do whatever he wanted her to do at any time.” (176)

• From the beginning, John Edwards flaunted his relationship with erstwhile “camera girl” Rielle Hunter in front of campaign insiders including some major donors. Edwards simply assumed all would join the charade of Edwards as a devoted husband and family man to his wife and to the public. (175-79)

• John Edwards felt that if word of his affair became public “it would be, at worst, a one-day news story because ‘everyone knows’ that politicians screw around on their wives.” (221)

• THE SEX TAPE: When cleaning their house after Rielle Hunter had moved out, Andrew and Cheri Young came across a videotape of Sen. John Edwards engaged in sexual activity with a heavily pregnant woman. The tape is now in the hands of a U.S. Grand Jury. (281)

• Young writes, “The senator and Rielle made it difficult for me to ignore the affair, because he let me see them kiss and I had heard Rielle recount their sexual exploits and pledge her love.” (180)

• While Elizabeth Edwards began her tour to promote her book about surviving breast cancer, John Edwards brought Rielle Hunter to the Edwards family home to enjoy time together. The senator and his mistress discussed “how the house seemed like a happy place with Elizabeth and her ‘negative energy’ removed.” (168-9)

• When Elizabeth Edwards came face to face with Rielle Hunter at a campaign rally, John Edwards attempted to defuse the situation by saying that Ms. Hunter was a only “one night stand” for him but had become Andrew Young’s mistress. (185-187)

• John Edwards asked Andrew Young to draw upon the profits from the sale of Young’s family home so as to finance Rielle Hunter’s needs without Elizabeth Edwards finding out. (214)

• One night at the Edwards’s home—the senator was fast asleep–a cell phone that only the candidate and his mistress used rang. Elizabeth found and answered the phone only to hear Rielle Hunter launch into an explicit message to her lover, John Edwards. (167)

• “Because she identified me with her husband’s infidelity, but also knew I remained on of his trusted assistants, Mrs. Edwards obsessed over what I knew and what I may have done…At various times she accused me of lying, cheating, and even stealing from her household. In furious fights, she insisted her husband fire me, which he couldn’t do because he needed me to take care of Rielle.” (205)

• John Edwards’s first reaction when told of Rielle Hunter’s pregnancy was to tell Andrew Young to “handle it.” John Edwards told both Andrew Young and Rielle Hunter that Hunter should have an abortion. (212-213)

• When Andrew Young agrees to let Edwards’ pregnant mistress live with his family so that Rielle Hunter could be shielded from the tabloid press, Edwards says to Young: “You are the best friend I ever had in the world.” (218)

• On July 30, 2008, their thirtieth wedding anniversary, John and Elizabeth Edwards renewed their wedding vows in front of national media while the pregnant mistress of John Edwards watched and fumed. (215)

• Unwilling to tell his cancer-stricken wife the truth about his affair and feeling the heat from an inquisitive tabloid press, Sen. John Edwards asked Andrew Young to announce to the press that he was having an affair with Rielle Hunter and that he was the father of her unborn child. John Edwards says to Andrew Young: “You’re family. A friend like no other friend I’ve ever had.” (234-235)

• When Edwards asks Andrew Young to take his wife, their three children and the pregnant Rielle Hunter into hiding until the presidential campaign is over, Young writes, “Over and over again he [Edwards] said that he loved me, he loved Cheri [Young’s wife], and he was going to support us in every way he could for many years to come.” (238)

• Rielle Hunter liked being pursued by the press and “also liked the power that came with being the woman with a secret that could bring down a presidential candidate.” (219) “The drama excited Rielle, as did the sense power she felt as a secret insider with a direct line to a man who could be president of the United States. (210)

• Sen. John Edwards, exuding steadfast confidence, appeared on THE TONIGHT SHOW with JAY LENO after just having left his mistress and their newborn baby in a luxury hotel across town from NBC’s Burbank studios. (268)

• Young was devoted to candidate John Edwards: “ I felt that John Edwards represented my best shot a success, and I would be a fool to give him anything less than my full effort…I also felt a special connection, a sense of pride in helping this man go from rookie senator to presidential contender.” (94)

• Andrew Young explains: “By 2006 he [John Edwards] had evolved into a man who was absolutely certain he should be leader of the free world. This change had also been aided by countless people who added their ambition to his because they hoped to get carried into the White House with him. I counted myself in that group.” (159)

• Young gives his justification for his loyalty: “You do it because you hope that the good you accomplish outweighs the excesses that accompany the pursuit of power. That’s how you justify it to yourself morally.” (176)

• Young admits that he “had come to identify with the Edwardses at the expense of my own priorities and hopes. . . I no longer saw them clearly. In fact, I was willing to imagine they had positive qualities they didn’t actually possess and overlook their flaws and mistakes, because I needed them to succeed.” (153)

• THE LAST STRAW: After the birth of Rielle Hunter’s baby, Young prodded Edwards to call Ms. Hunter and suggested Edwards should send flowers. Edwards’ response: “Yeah that’s a good idea….But don’t sign it from me. Someone might see it.” Young writes that he “finally recognized that he [John Edwards] didn’t care about anyone other than himself.” (264)

• Young finally seems himself as “the guy who foolishly took the blame for the sin of a man who didn’t deserve to be protected.” (257)

• With the looming scandal of the affair and Rielle’s pregnancy, there were few options for Edwards to safely extricate himself, one being Elizabeth’s death but no one hoped for such a terrible outcome. (250, 252)

• As Edwards was heralded as a great hope for the Democratic Party and welcomed into halls of power, “Edwards came to believe that his place there was part of the natural order of things.” As he told Young, “This thing is bigger than any one of us,” meaning “that his destiny [to be president] was practically born in the stars.” (80) (224)

• While Edwards continually stressed his “son of a mill worker” line in his stump speeches he never participated in activities or photo-ops that would have him doing actual manual labor. (35)

• “As the Edwardses’ lifestyle became ever more extravagant, I began to feel incredulous. His big issue was poverty, but he was flying around in a private jet, building a gigantic estate, drawing big checks from a hedge fund, and booking speeches for tens of thousands of dollars apiece.” (151)

• When Elizabeth Edward’s cancer returned, the senator and his wife decided to maintain the run for the presidency. “The White House was what the Edwardses desired most, and they weren’t going to give up the dream just because of a fatal illness.” (201)

• Edwards to Young: “You aren’t staff, you are family. You know that, right?” (59)

INFORMATION FROM A NEWS RELEASE SENT TO THE WWAY NEWSCHANNEL 3 NEWSROOM…