Will 2004 Democrat VP nominee and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards soon be indicted by the feds for campaign-finance violations?  The National Enquirer says Edwards will be indicted — and in the John Edwards Scandal, where the Enquirer leads the Mainstream Media follow.

What a difference a few years make.

John Edwards Indictment

When Edwards was one of the leading Democrat presidential candidates, the Enquirer broke story after story while the MSM refused to ask, refused to report and refused to inform its readers of the events.  This continued for months, while Edwards was considered for both an Obama running mate and attorney general slot.

Even after the Enquirer caught Edwards visiting Hunter and their daughter in a late night rendezvous at the Beverly Hilton in July 2008, there was no coverage in the traditional press for weeks.  After initially labeling the Enquirer’s report as “tabloid trash,“ Edwards finally confessed on ABC’s Nightline on August 8, 2008.

Now, with the National Enquirer officially in the running for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the scandal, the MSM is quick to follow up on the tabloid’s  announcements.  The Enquirer announced on March 3 that an Edwards indictment was “imminent.”  Within a few days, CBS News, the Boston Herald,  Fox News and practically every member of the MSM followed with their own stories, citing the Enquirer as their source.

What a difference a few years makes.

In October 2007, when the National Enquirer broke the news that Edwards, then one of the three leading Democrat presidential candidates, was involved in a cheating scandal that could wreck his campaign bid,  the Mainstream Media did its best to ignore it.  A few reports mentioned what the Enquirer had found, but Edwards denied it and the story died within hours.

Nine weeks later, the Enquirer unleashed The John Edwards Love Child Scandal: the news that Edwards was cheating on his cancer-stricken wife with a mistress, Rielle Hunter. The story featured photos of a very pregnant Hunter, and the news that she’d been moved into a multi-million dollar private, gated community five miles from Edwards’ national campaign headquarters.

John Edwards Love Child

Despite the many easily-verifiable facts, the MSM imposed an almost-complete news blackout of the story.  Most revealing, not one reporter stuck a microphone in Edwards’ face to ask about the pregnant Hunter.  Even the Internet was largely silent.

With few exceptions, this blackout lasted for nearly nine more months, until the Edwards’ Nightline confession.

Twenty months later, the Enquirer’s up for a Pulitzer in two categories; the MSM is shedding readers, viewers and trust; and, whenever Edwards issues a statement, the traditional press checks the National Enquirer to see if he’s telling the truth.

Is an Edwards’ indictment looming?

Edwards’ lawyer and mentor, Wade Smith said, “I’m at a place where I cannot make any comment to confirm or deny. I can’t say anything. It’s possible, at some later point, I can.”

The Enquirer reports that Edwards is “terrified.”

Who are you going to believe?

An incredible amount of money went toward the elaborate cover-up that we now know went on for years.  Ex-aide Andrew Young told ABC News that the operation’s cost exceeded $1 million.  Despite Edwards’ best efforts at hiding them, that amount of money leaves a lot of trails–and the FBI, IRS and the US Attorney have spent the last year running them down.

Kerry-Edwards

But Young — who knows where a lot of the scandal’s financial bodies are buried — isn’t Edwards’ only worry:  the MSM is no longer interested in protecting the ambulance-chasing lawyer and former Democrat Party standard-bearer. (Be sure to click on the link, from the Washington Monthly; it’s laugh-out-loud funny.)

Just last Friday, Newsweek reported the following:

A nonprofit group that John Edwards set up to fight poverty paid $124,000 for Web videos and photos to the former Democratic presidential candidate’s mistress, say four lawyers familiar with the payments. The Center for Promise and Opportunity wrote the previously unreported checks to videographer Rielle Hunter in late 2006, the same year Edwards acknowledged he started a “liaison” with her. (Edwards contended originally that he cut off the relationship that year. He admitted more recently he’s the father of Hunter’s daughter, born in February 2008.) The checks have since been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in North Carolina as part of a sprawling criminal investigation into nearly $1.5 million in payments from various Edwards entities and campaign contributors that were for Hunter’s benefit, say the lawyers, who asked not to be identified talking about an ongoing probe.

But Newsweek saved its most incredible revelation for last.

The payments to Hunter were made at the same time that Edwards’s political action committee was separately paying her a similar amount to produce Webisodes promoting Edwards as a political figure.

Edwards not only paid his mistress over $100,000 for some video work for which she was not particularly qualified, he paid her twice.  Using non-profit and PAC money.  After he had started a steamy affair in which he flew her around the country to meet him at campaign stops.

Edwards’ latest concern has to be Rielle Hunter herself: every time this self-styled “truthteller’ speaks, more headaches are created for “Johnny” and his defense team.

rielle3GQ

When Hunter did a recent GQ interview, she attacked Young’s credibility and tried to deflect blame for the cover-up from Edwards. But Hunter GQ performance reminds one of the mistress’ short acting resume: she does the best she can with her limited range. Hunter’s most notable accomplishment to date has been sleeping her way to fame and, if not quite fortune, a considerable jump in her living standard prior to having bedded Edwards.

One of the most interesting Hunter revelations: that she was paid $5-6000 per month by “Fred” — as in former Edwards campaign finance chief, Fred Baron, now deceased — dating back to May 2007.

Let’s talk about the money. There are reports now of a huge amount—over a million dollars—coming from two donors, Bunny Mellon and the late Fred Baron, to support you and the Youngs [while they kept up the ruse that Young was the father]. What exactly were you aware of?

I was not aware of how much money Andrew was receiving. When I became aware, in May ‘08, of how much Fred was sending him, I wanted to have nothing to do with Andrew anymore. Because I felt that I was being used [by the Youngs] for them to pocket money. And I wanted no part of it. And I believe when Johnny became aware of that is when he wanted no part of Andrew as well.

But back up. How did this work exactly?

For about six months, starting in May ‘07, Andrew would put $5,000 a month into my bank account. One month it was $6,000. And he told me it was on the up-and-up and it was a gift. I had no idea where it was coming from.

But in May ‘07, you didn’t even know you were pregnant yet. What did you think the money was for?

Andrew gave me money because he felt I shouldn’t be using my own money to travel to see Johnny. Andrew always wanted to “take care of everything.” And at that point, I trusted him. He was seductive in how he took care of things and insisted that you have things. And a lot of times, Johnny had no idea what he was up to, nor did he ask him to do it. The dynamic was: Andrew always taking care of things without telling Johnny or anyone else what he was doing, and claiming he was doing it “On the senator’s behalf.” But at the same time, he was so helpful and kind. And took care of everything. Every little detail he was always offering: “Let me do this. Get a massage, you need a massage, you deserve it,” or “Pick out whatever car you want. I’ll take care of it, you deserve it, please.”

This directly contradicts Baron’s statements that he only gave Young and Hunter money to “help them escape being hounded by the tabloids.” In May 2007, Hunter was unknown to the tabloids and wasn’t yet pregnant when the first payments started.

With a mistress like this, who needs enemies?

So, Edwards has to worry about not only the testimony of Young, but also Hunter, money trails, the National Enquirer, a MSM that reports what the Enquirer turns up, and perhaps, his soon-to-be ex-wife, Elizabeth.  The Enquirer has reported that she’s mulling whether to testify against him.

Is John Edwards’ indictment “imminent?”  Is the former senator “terrified?”  Will estranged wife, Elizabeth” testify against him? As events have demonstrated, readers are likely to first discover that news in the pages of the National Enquirer–not the Mainstream Media.

What a difference a few years makes.