In this December 2006 photo provided by the National Enquirer, John Edwards chats with videographer Rielle Hunter. 2006 AP FILE PHOTO
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1998
November: John Edwards is elected to his first political office, the U.S. Senate, as a Democrat from North Carolina.
2003
September: Edwards announces his run for the presidency and says he will not seek re-election to the Senate.
2004
Edwards impresses heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, the widow of billionaire Paul Mellon, who begins donating to his campaign.
Edwards' campaign manager, Nick Baldrick, launches the Alliance for a New America, a political 527 group (named for the tax code section that governs it).
July: Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry picks Edwards as his running mate.
November: Edwards and Kerry lose the November election to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The next day, Edwards and wife Elizabeth learn that she has breast cancer.
2005
February: John Edwards is named director of the new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC Chapel Hill.
2006
February: Edwards meets videographer Rielle Hunter while attending a business meeting at a hotel in Manhattan.
June: Hunter and business partner Mimi Hockman incorporate Midline Groove productions and sign a contract with Edwards' political action committee. She begins traveling with him as staff videographer.
December: Edwards announces his second run for the presidency.
2007
March: Edwards learns that his wife's cancer has returned.
May: Hunter tells Edwards that she is pregnant. Andrew Young, an Edwards campaign aide, and Edwards ask Mellon for money to keep Hunter silent, according to the grand jury indictment.
October: Hunter begins living with Young and his wife. The National Enquirer begins reporting that Edwards is having an affair, but it does not identify Hunter.
December: The National Enquirer publishes a photograph of a pregnant Hunter. Edwards asks Young to claim paternity of Hunter's child. Edwards and Young arrange for Fred Baron, Edwards' campaign finance chairman, to pay for the travel and accommodations for Young, his family and Hunter to help them avoid the media, according to the indictment.
2008
Over the course of 2008, Mellon gives $3.48 million to The Alliance for a New America, and more to other groups tied to Edwards. The Alliance for a New America pays $3.3 million to an LLC called AFNA for consulting. The limited liability company did not have to publicly disclose how its money was spent.
January: Edwards drops out of presidential race.
February: Barack Obama visits Edwards in Chapel Hill to ask for his endorsement in the presidential race. Ten days later, on Feb. 27, Hunter gives birth to Edwards' daughter, Frances Quinn. Edwards denies being the father, and Andrew Young claims paternity. A month later, Edwards visits his newborn daughter in Beverly Hills.
July: Edwards visits Hunter and the baby again at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and he is confronted by an Enquirer reporter. Edwards runs into a bathroom to avoid him.
August: Edwards goes on "20/20" to admit his affair with Hunter, but lies about the scope of the affair and continues to deny being the father of her child.
October: Fred Baron, Edwards' former campaign finance chairman, dies.
2009
May: Edwards acknowledges an ongoing federal investigation into his campaign finances, an investigation seeking to learn whether Edwards and Young orchestrated payments between campaign donors and Hunter.
July: Young testifies before a federal grand jury in Raleigh.
August: Hunter is called before a federal grand jury in Raleigh.
2010
January: John Edwards admits that he is the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter. John and Elizabeth Edwards confirm reports that they are separated. An Orange County judge grants a temporary restraining order requiring Young and his wife to turn over a videotape belonging to Hunter which allegedly contains images of Hunter and Edwards having sex.
December: Mellon relatives are subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury investigating Edwards' campaign finances.
Dec. 7: Elizabeth Edwards dies of cancer.
2011
June 3: A federal grand jury indicts Edwards on felony charges of conspiracy, making false statements and campaign law violations.
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