Washington, Aug.11 : Former U.S. vice-presidential candidate John Edwards'' mistress, Rielle Hunter, made catty remarks about his cancer-stricken wife Elisabeth to a friend and also blamed her getting fired from a videography job on her lover''s presidential campaign, a new report claims.

"She does not give off good energy. She didn''t make eye contact with me," Rielle is reported to have said of Elizabeth during a late 2006 lunch with Newsweek reporter Jonathan Darman.

London, Aug 9 : Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted that he lied by denying an affair with a former aide while his chief fundraiser conceded that he had given money to the woman, who has remained silent.

The National Enquirer magazine recently caught Edwards, 55, secretly visiting Rielle Hunter, 44, and her six-month-old baby Frances Quinn Hunter at a Beverly Hills hotel. This week, photographs of him holding the baby girl were published.

New York, Aug. 8 : From being one of the Democrats'' strongest presidential candidates, John Edwards has virtually become a party pariah.

Dogged by stories in the National Enquirer about an alleged affair with a campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter, who gave birth in February to a daughter said to be Edwards'' "love child," he who won''t be allowed to speak at the national convention on August 26.

The handsome former North Carolina senator is considered a stirring orator, and still has 19 delegates pledged to him, which would make him a key speaker under normal circumstances.