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Last updated: 23 april, 2010 - 12:44 GMT

Andrew Young, the aide asked to lie for senator John Edwards

Andrew Young

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Andrew Young was assistant to US senator John Edwards. Like most political aides, he worked long days, and was constantly on call. He and his wife even went on holiday with the senator and his family.

While Edwards was campaigning to be the Democrat presidential candidate during the 2008 US election campaign, the press started to report that he'd had an affair with a woman called Rielle Hunter, and that she'd had a baby.

The senator's wife Elizabeth, meanwhile, had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Andrew Young says senator Edwards asked him to pretend the child was his. This he did.

Despite that deception, senator Edwards' hopes of becoming the Democratic candidate fell apart because his image had already been tainted by the allegations.

Senator John Edwards

Senator John Edwards with Barak Obama

Earlier this year, John Edwards admitted that he is the father of the child. He and Andrew Young are now no longer on speaking terms.

Young says he was compelled to tell a true account of what happened in his book The Politician.

John and Elizabeth Edwards are now legally separated and Elizabeth is still receiving treatment for her cancer.

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  • An insider's account of the John Edwards scandal

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