Edwards has made some pretty definitive assertions in his new statement. If any of them are not true, he could be in a pretty hazardous spot, because there are a lot of moving parts in this story. There is Rielle Hunter, who knows the whole thing. There is Hunter’s friend Bob McGovern, who, according to the National Enquirer, played a big part in setting up the Beverly Hilton meeting. There is Andrew Young, the Edwards aide who, through a lawyer, claimed paternity of Hunter’s child. And there is Andrew Young’s wife, who will have her own perspective on things. And those are just the people who might have pretty direct knowledge of events.

And finally there is, of course, the Enquirer. Speaking to Enquirer editor David Perel the other day, I got the impression that his number-one reason for withholding the photos from the Beverly Hilton is that he wanted to see how Edwards would react. (And then there was the matter of the upcoming Democratic convention giving a big showcase to the story.) The Enquirer appeared to be waiting for Edwards to make some sort of wide-ranging statement. Now he has. We’ll see what the tabloid does next.