John Edwards Admits to Having an Affair

In an interview scheduled to air Friday evening on "Nightline" on ABC, John Edwards admits to having repeatedly lied during his presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with novice filmmaker Rielle Hunter. Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff that he did in fact have an affair with Hunter, 44, but said that he did not love her.

Edwards addresses the allegations of having fathered a child with Hunter, denying that he is the father. He did say, however that he has not taken a paternity test. He believes he is not the father based on the timing of the baby's birth on February 27, 2007. He claims that the affair ended too soon for him to have been the father. Andrew Young, a former campaign aid who is also married with young children, came forth late last year claiming to be the father.

Edwards says that his affair with Hunter began during the campaign after she was hired to work for him. She traveled around the United States, and to Africa, with him.

The news of the affair should come as no shock to his longtime wife Elizabeth, whom he claims to have told about the affair in 2006. He made a point of emphasizing to Woodruff in the interview that his wife's cancer was in admission when he began the affair, as if that somehow makes it any better. His wife has since been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer.

When the story of Edwards affair, and Hunter's child, first emerged Edwards vehemently denied it, stating: "The story is false, it's completely untrue, it's ridiculous."

When Edwards was caught at the Beverly Hilton two weeks ago visiting Rielle Hunter and the baby, he repeated the denial. Today he admitted that the National Enquirer was correct when it reported that he had visited her at the Hilton, and said that his wife did not know about the meeting.

Since Hunter became pregnant, she's lived a life a secrecy, living in a series of pricey homes in North Carolina and California under a number of assumed names. He denies having given her any money to keep her from going public about their affair, but did indicate that it was possible that some of his friends or supports may have made payments without telling him.

Edwards lied not once, but several times about the affair. How can we expect him to tell the truth about being the father of the baby? And, how can we expect him to tell the truth about whether Hunter was paid off to keep the affair under wraps? I smell a rat.