In an interview with People magazine, Rielle Hunter considered herself and former presidential candidate John Edwards to be “still together as a couple.”

The Hollywood Gossip reported that Rielle Hunter came clean after years of secrecy. Her relationship with Edwards ended the politician’s bid for the presidency and his marriage with Elizabeth Edwards.

“I fell in love with a married man,” Hunter tells People in the middle of promoting her new book, “And became something I wasn’t in order to be with him.” Rielle’s book ‘What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me’ details her relationship with Edwards in the past and during the present. “We’re still together as a couple,” she claimed.

According to The Hollywood Gossip, the book by Rielle Hunter asserted that Edwards dallied with other women. It also described John’s late wife Elizabeth Edwards, who died two years ago, to be reportedly out of her mind.

When People asked her if she and John Edwards would ever get married, Rielle answered: “Have no idea. I’m not a big fan of the institution,” she added, “But never say never.”

Hunter, 48, sees Edwards, 59, regularly enough to supposedly count as a wife of sorts.

“Sometimes five days in a row,” Rielle Hunter recalled in her book. “Sometimes every two weeks. It varies,” she said, and explained that John Edwards would play with their daughter Quinn for hours. Edwards also emptied the dishwasher and cooked for them.

“Johnny and I have been through so much awfulness,” Rielle wrote, what “With the wrath of America directed at us. But I followed my heart,” she added, “And I don’t regret it.”

The Hollywood Gossip reported that Rielle felt her relationship with John Edwards “produced the greatest love in my entire life,” referring to their four-year-old love child, Frances Quinn.

“I don’t think that’s anyone’s business,” Rielle Hunter replied when asked about her sex life with John Edwards. Still, she immediately answered “I do!” when asked if she thought that the 59-year-old Edwards was hot.

The trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards is truly over. A North Carolina jury practically acquitted him with regards to allegations that he used campaign funds to hide his affair with Rielle Hunter. The Justice Department apparently does not intend to pursue a retrial.

According to The Huffington Post, a North Carolina jury acquitted Edwards on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions. They also deadlocked on five other felony counts. The judge declared a mistrial due to the deadlock.

The Inquisitr additionally reported that the Justice Department issued a statement on Wednesday that government prosecutors do not plan to retry the case against John Edwards.

“Last month, the government put forward its best case against Mr. Edwards,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. ”I am proud,” he added, “Of the skilled and professional way in which our prosecutors conducted this trial” on behalf of the Justice Department.

The Boston Globe reported that John Edwards could have faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1.5 million if the North Carolina jury had convicted him of all charges.

Edwards’ legal team was pleased to hear that the Justice Department decided to drop all charges against their client. Attorneys Abbe Lowell, Allison Van Laningham, and Alan W. Duncan expressed their belief that a retrial would have acquitted John Edwards anyway.

“While John has repeatedly admitted to his sins,” the defense team of John Edwards remarked, “He has also consistently asserted… that he did not violate any campaign law nor even imagined that any campaign laws could apply.” Edwards’ attorneys were “very glad” to hear that, after having to live under a cloud of suspicion and mistrust for over three years, ”John and his family can have their lives back and enjoy the peace they deserve.”

After more than a week of deliberation, North Carolina jury found John Edwards not guilty of one charge of campaign fraud during his 2008 run for President.

According to TMZ, Edwards was found “not guilty” of one count illegal campaign contributions this Thursday.

That left five more charges for John Edwards to face: Three additional counts of illegal campaign contributions, one count of conspiracy, and one count of making false statements. The jury deadlocked over those charges, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.

According to TMZ, the jury was composed of 8 men and 4 women. It took them 9 days to reach today’s verdict after 9 days.

Former Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards faced six counts of campaign finance fraud. He allegedly spent almost a million dollars of campaign contributions to hide his mistress Rielle Hunter and their lovechild. Now he faced up to 30 years in prison and a  fine of $1.5 million.

The ex-senator’s legal team closed the case by telling the jury that the money John Edwards used to hide Rielle Hunter came from a former campaign treasurer and an elderly supporter. According to TMZ, those two gave Edwards the money as a gift for his personal benefit.

The money, said the defense panel, was used to hide Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter from his dying wife Elizabeth. “John was a bad husband,” Edwards’ attorney conceded, “But there is not the remotest chance that John [Edwards] did or intended to violate the law.”

TMZ reported that John Edwards gave a brief address outside the courthouse after the verdict. Expressing his gratitude to his children, he sobbed when he brought up his 4-year-old daughter Quinn, his child by mistress Rielle Hunter.

“My precious Quinn,” John Edwards wept, “Who I love more than any of you can ever imagine.” The tearful Edwards claimed that he was “so close to, so, so grateful for” his daughter.

It’s almost over for former senator John Edwards- and in more ways than one.

With the conclusion of his campaign finance trial this Sunday, all that is left for the former presidential candidate is to sit and wait as the jury deliberates whether he is innocent or guilty.

Among the half-dozen charges that John Edwards faces are conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report. The 58-year-old ex-senator may be looking at up to 30 years behind bars.

His lawyer closed the defense by arguing that, despite lying to his late wife Elizabeth Edwards and to America about his scandalous love affair with former campaign worker Rielle Hunter, Edwards did not break the law.

“This is a case that should define the difference between a wrong and a crime,” Edwards’ lawyer stated at the end of the campaign trial, “Between a sin and a felony. John Edwards has confessed his sins,” he said, then added, “He will serve a life sentence for those. But he has pleaded not guilty to violating the law,” the lawyer concluded.

The defense team of John Edwards suddenly rested its case on Wednesday without calling on the North Carolina senator’s baby mama Rielle Hunter, Edwards’ eldest daughter, or Edwards himself.

According to Perez Hilton, rumors were rife that Rielle Hunter, the mother of ex-senator Edwards’ illegitimate baby -whom he earlier called a “crazy slut”-, could be called to take the stand in his defense.

The prosecution spent weeks hammering John Edwards for allegedly using North Carolina constituents’ money to fund secret trysts with lover Rielle Hunter. Some sources opined that Miss Hunter -the supposed target of all that misspent money- might have been the best person to refute the prosecution’s accusations.

Other hotly anticipated witnesses for the defense were the former North Carolina senator’s eldest daughter, Cate Edwards, and John Edwards himself. In the end, the defense team chose to end on the closing notes of a financial investigator.

Closing arguments for both sides are set on Thursday. Edwards’ fate will then lie in the hands of a jury of his peers.

John Edwards faces half a dozen felony charges for breaking multiple federal campaign contribution laws. If the jury convicts him on all counts, the 58-year-old Edwards could spend up to 30 years in prison.

John Edwards, former United States senator is set to go to trial for his campaign finance case, as U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles said his medical condition is manageable. Jury selection is set to begin in Greensboro, North Carolina on April 12, while the evidence presentation will commence on April 23. Judge Eagles said she expects the campaign finance case to last about six weeks.

In December, the lawyers of John Edwards asked for a two-month postponement of his campaign finance case due in part to his medical issue.

The former North Carolina Democrat is currently facing charges of violating campaign finance laws by secretly accepting more than $900,000 from two affluent supporters to help cover up an affair with a videographer who worked for his unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. The woman, Rielle Hunter, later bore the child of the 58-year-old John Edwards. Federal prosecutors say Edwards wanted to conceal her identity from the public eye to avoid ruining his political career.

John Edwards, a former U.S. senator and John Kerry’s vice presidential running mate in 2004, has pleaded not guilty. Edwards is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count if convicted for his campaign finance case.

At the hearing, Judge Eagles said many of the statements made by the wealthy donors to prosecution witnesses including former Edwards’ campaign aide Andrew Young and others would likely be allowed during the campaign finance case.

The defense attorneys of John Edwards countered that some of the testimonies should not be permitted. According to court records, Andrew Young was granted immunity by the government, while one of the donors, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, is elderly and physically unable to attend the trial. The other donor, Fred Baron, is deceased, so neither can be cross-examined about their statements by defense attorneys.

In court filings, the defense did not dispute that John Edwards and Young initially made an agreement to hide the truth about Rielle Hunter’s baby by having Young claim he was the father. However, the defense said no evidence showed that the aide or the donors believed they were committing a crime by giving Young money to pay for Hunter’s medical visits, prenatal care and other expenses. The defense argues the payments were meant to hide the affair from John Edwards’ wife Elizabeth, who later passed away due to cancer, and were not contributions subject to campaign finance laws.