On Wednesday, a former adviser for John Edwards recalled how the former candidate for president’s deceased wife confronted Edwards about his affair. The adviser, Christina Reynolds, told the court how upset Elizabeth Edwards was during the confrontation in October of 2007. Reynolds also told of how Elizabeth stormed away from her husband and then collapsed to the ground outside a private airplane hangar. Reynolds said she took Elizabeth to the women’s restroom to help her regain her composure but then returned to confront her husband again. When she confronted her husband, Elizabeth removed her shirt and bra to expose her chest. This took place in front of various staff members.
“‘You don’t see me anymore,'” Reynolds quoted Elizabeth in court. “He didn’t have much of a reaction.”
Reynolds did mention in her testimony that Elizabeth knew about the affair with Rielle Hunter long before it was released in tabloids across the country. The testimony from Reynolds has been the most stirring in the trial so far as the prosecutors are building a case against Romney for hiding the affair. Reynolds also told the court that Elizabeth invited her to their Chapel Hill home in the summer of 2007 to tell her that John confessed to the affair.
“I was very surprised by what she told me and I didn’t want it to ever become public so the kids wouldn’t have to know about it,” Reynolds said.
John Edwards has pled not guilty to six counts of campaign-finance violations. If convicted, Edwards could face 30 years in prison and fines of $1.5 million. The charges were filed because of payments made to Edwards from wealthy donors that were used to keep Hunter and her pregnancy out of the public eye.
Another former aide of Edwards’ testified on Wednesday. Josh Brumberger testified that the first time he saw Hunter was in the bar of a New York hotel in February of 2006. He did what he normally does and got his boss out of the conversation. Later that night, he witnessed Edwards coming back along from dinner only to be surrounded by women, including Hunter. He used an excuse to get his boss out of the conversation again.
“My normal bag of tricks included, `Got a big day tomorrow, got to rest,'” Brumberger recounted.
It was only a couple of weeks later when Hunter began traveling with Edwards to film behind-the-scenes footage even though Edward had yet to declare his candidacy for the presidency. A couple of days later Brumberger realized she was the woman from the bar at the hotel in New York.
“It was a cause of concern,” the former aide testified. He said to Edwards that the new videographer “looked a little nutty.” Brumberger also said he searched for Hunter by name and found her website, which he described as being filled with “sex, drugs, rock n’ roll astrology.” Brumberger’s worries about Hunter grew when she demanded to travel with Edwards on the private jet instead of on a commercial flight with the other staff members and consultants.
“Ms. Hunter felt she pretty much had an all-access pass to everything,” he said. “I disagreed.”
Brumberger said Edwards overruled him when he tried to ban Hunter from the private flights. Brumberger was also ordered by Edwards to make sure that the PAC paid for the health insurance of Hunter, which was out of the ordinary for those not on the full-time staff. Other staff members became concerned about Hunter when they realized she had no idea about videography. Videos taken by her that were shown in court were not in focus, not in frame and were shaky.
“It was shoddy and unprofessional,” Brumberger said.