JANUARY 29--John Edwards's ex-mistress is seeking to suppress what appears to be a sex tape featuring her and the disgraced politician, according to court records.

Rielle Hunter yesterday secured a restraining order against a former Edwards aide in connection with "a personal video recording that depicted matters of a very private and personal nature." Andrew Young, the ex-Edwards assistant, has said he is in possession of a tape showing Edwards having sex with a woman he believes to be Hunter, who gave birth to Edwards's daughter Frances Quinn in February 2008.

According to an affidavit filed yesterday in North Carolina Superior Court, Hunter reported that she was having an "intimate relationship" with Edwards in 2006, and that the video was made around September of that year (a copy of Hunter's affidavit can be found here).

In December 2006, Hunter recalled, she decided to destroy the video. "Therefore I opened up the plastic casing of the miniDV cassette and pulled out the tape contained therein. However, because I was concerned that persons seeking information about my activities were or could be searching my trash, I decided to instead store the remains of the miniDV tape in a hatbox in which I stored other important personal items in order to maintain possession and control over the Video."

The video, which Hunter hid in a hatbox at her North Carolina residence, apparently came into Young's possession in mid-2008 after Hunter asked him to retrieve her passport, which was stored in the hatbox. When the National Enquirer disclosed Hunter's relationship with Edwards, Young came forward and falsely claimed to have carried on an affair with Hunter and fathered her child. After repeatedly lying about his involvement with Hunter, Edwards recently admitted he was Frances Quinn's father. (7 pages)