Before John Edwards let David Letterman mess up his hair on the Late Show last night, the former Senator was at a private fund-raiser in midtown Manhattan, also attended by Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Alex Forger—one of the co-executors of the Jackie Onassis estate.
A reader who attended the event—held in the Fifth Avenue home of Edwards contributor Joseph Bondi—emailed me last night with this report of Edwards’ remarks:
He said that Hillary and Obama have true dislike for each other and that after the most recent debate Hillary mentioned to John in passing that there’s more about Obama and that “slum landlord” [Rezko] that has yet to be disclosed to the public.
Tim Robbins raised the possibility of a brokered convention and Edwards mentioned that it was remote but a possibility.
This is, obviously, an account from an unnamed source. But it’s someone I’ve dealt with in the past and whom I trust. The source confirmed the email account to me more than once. And just to be totally clear on the most noteworthy element—Edwards’ account of his conversation with Hillary about Rezko—the source said that Edwards gave no indication that Hillary suggested that it was her campaign that had the Rezko-dirt. (Common sense suggests that she wouldn’t have said anything of the sort to anyone, let alone to one of her opponents.)
I talked to another attendee who declined to elaborate on Edwards’ comments, but didn’t deny them. And a colleague and I are trying to track down other people who we know were there.
I ran this account by the Edwards campaign earlier this morning and, after multiple communications back and forth, I’m still waiting for an official response.
If anyone else who was there has any more information, please email me.
UPDATE: Response just in from Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz:
UPDATE: Horowitz talked to another attendee. Again, the attendee wouldn’t comment on the specifics but didn’t deny anything.
UPDATE: Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson emailed to say Edwards’ remarks about Hillary Clinton’s remarks, as conveyed by the attendee at the fund-raiser, are “not an accurate account of their conversation.”
