VIDEO: John Edwards' Mistress Wins Court Order, But Doesn't Get Sex Tape Back
Jan. 29 2010, Published 1:45 p.m. ET
Rielle Hunter, the mistress of ex-Presidential candidate John Edwards, won a temporary restraining order Thursday demanding that Andrew Young, an ex-aide of the disgraced politician, return an alleged sex tape she says belongs to her -- now, she just has to get it back.
The tape, Hunter described in court papers, is "a personal video recording that depicted matters of a very private and personal nature."
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Young says he discovered the sex tape in Hunter’s trash, and that it was marked “special.” He said he never saw the woman's face in the tape, that she was "visibly pregnant" and "wearing a bracelet" and a "thumb ring" typical of her usual fashion tastes.
Following the judgment, authorities went to Young's North Carolina home Thursday to retrieve the tape, but left empty-handed.
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”He was not belligerent in any way,” Major Charles Blackwood of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said of Young's behavior during the attempt to collect the alleged sex tape. “He didn’t comply, but he wasn’t necessarily non-compliant.”
Meanwhile, on Friday’s Good Morning America, reporter Bob Woodruff played an answering machine message left by Edwards on Young’s phone, explaining to him why he might sound different in their exchanges.
"Andrew, it’s John,” Edwards said on the message. “I am gonna leave you this message just in case you get a call from me asking, ‘What's going on?’ The reason we're calling is because Elizabeth's standing there. So if I call saying, ‘What happened? How did this happen?’ -- that's because Elizabeth's standing there with me."
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Young -- the ex-Edwards confidante who once claimed he was the father to Hunter's nearly 2-year-old baby -- said Edwards spent more than $1 million to cover up the scandal in his quest for the presidency. He said that he found the videotape of Edwards and Hunter in July 2008 while rummaging through a pile of garbage at a Raleigh, North Carolina house she once lived in.
Young's tell-all book about the Edwards sex scandal, The Politician, hits stores February 2; the entire interview will air on 20/20 Friday at 10/9c on ABC.