04-24-2012, 05:37 PM
AP
John Edwards apparently didn't think too highly of his mistress.
According to testimony Tuesday from Edwards' former top confidante, the ex-senator didn't give himself great odds when he doubted that he was the father of Rielle Hunter's unborn child.
"He said that she was a crazy slut, and it was a one-in-three chance that it was his child," Young testified.
Whether or not those were the odds, Edwards made a bad bet. After denying for months that he was the father, even after he copped to the affair, Edwards has acknowledged paternity for their daughter who is now 4 years old.
Young's anecdote was just one of several titillating details that emerged during the second day of testimony in the high-profile Edwards trial. Young also described how Edwards' late wife Elizabeth learned of the affair. He said Elizabeth would answer her husband's cell phone without saying anything, allowing Hunter to start talking assuming she was having a private conversation with John.
Elizabeth later made her husband use a different phone, Young said. But Edwards evaded the attempt, telling Young to keep a "bat phone" on him. The phone was so Hunter could call Young and, when the coast was clear, Young could hand the phone to Edwards, Young testified.
In between the soap-opera-style details, Young continued to feed into the prosecution's case that Edwards helped arrange for nearly $1 million in donations to hide the affair and preserve his 2008 Democratic presidential bid.
Young testified that Edwards directed him to start giving money to Hunter in May 2007 after she threatened to go to the media and expose the affair. Young said he suggested asking Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon, an elderly heiress who had already given generously to Edwards' campaign.
He claimed that Edwards became frustrated when Young expressed discomfort with the arrangement, but Edwards insisted it was fine. He said Edwards insisted on discussing the donor checks in code because he said he couldn't be tied to the scheme in case he ever had to be sworn in as U.S. attorney general.