The wife of the chief accuser in former Sen. John Edwards' campaign finance trial acknowledged under oath Tuesday that she told the FBI her husband used sleeping pills that made him "loopy" and interfered with his memory.

But Cheri Young, the wife of former top Edwards aide Andrew Young, fought off attempts by Edwards' lawyers to cast doubt on the couple's recollection of events, denying that his use of prescription sleeping pills or her migraine headaches hampered their memories. She also denied telling the FBI that her husband drank too much.

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• Full trial coverage on msnbc.com
• Analysis by Hampton Dellinger

But when asked about Andrew Young's long-term use of prescription sleeping pills, she acknowledged that she had told the FBI that "Ambien makes him loopy" and that "he sometimes can't remember things that occurred the previous day."

Edwards is charged with six felony counts of accepting about $1 million in illegal and unreported campaign donations from two wealthy supporters that was used to support Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, and the Youngs during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Edwards' attorneys repeatedly tried to suggest that the Youngs had ulterior motives, getting Cheri Young to admit that she and her husband kept much of the money intended to cover up the affair.

But Young insisted that that was only fair, saying Edwards could have resolved any issues by choosing to "come forward and tell the truth."

"Her reason, in essence, is there was no amount of money that could have made up for what John Edwards put her and her family through," said Hampton Dellinger, a legal analyst for NBC News and msnbc.com. 

After the testimony last week of her husband, which many legal analysts described as shaky, "Cheri Young was able to take ... the focus off of her husband, put it back on the defendant, John Edwards, and that's just what the government needed," Dellinger said.

Jay Gray and Michael Austin of NBC News in Greensboro, N.C., contributed to this report by M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — The wife of the star prosecution witness broke down on the stand Monday morning while recounting how former Sen. John Edwards wanted her husband to falsely claim paternity for the child of his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Cheri Young testified that when her husband, former Edwards aide Andrew Young, told her about Edwards' request, her first thought was "how in the world could Mr. Edwards ask one more thing of me of us?"

Full trial coverage on msnbc.com

Analysis by Hampton Dellinger

"Of course, I said absolutely not," Young testified, saying she screamed and cursed at her husband.

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Cheri Young took the witness stand after her husband spent last week describing how nearly $1 million in money from supporters of Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign was funneled to support Hunter and the Youngs after rumors of the Edwards-Hunter affair surfaced. She is also key to the prosecution's campaign finance case because she was asked to countersign checks from one of the donors, which were routed through her decorator.

 

 

Young recounted a four-way call among her, her husband, Hunter and Edwards in which "Mr. Edwards was trying to get everyone on board."

"'This is it; this is our time; we're going great; we've gotten this far,'" Young quoted Edwards as having said. She said she "didn't want the responsibility of knowing that because I didn't go along with this ... that the campaign would explode and it would be my fault."

"So I ultimately agreed to go along with the lie," she said, sobbing.

Young said Edwards seemed determined that his own wife, Elizabeth — who later died of cancer — must not learn about the affair with Hunter, a videographer for the presidential campaign.

"He didn't want her to find out at that point because she was going to die soon," Young said.

Before leaving court early because of a migraine headache, Young made it clear that she resented Edwards and Hunter, who moved in with the Youngs after The National Enquirer began trying to photograph her at her New Jersey home. 

"She took a big spin and said, 'I'm here!'" said Young, who said it was intimidating to have "a presidential candidate's pregnant mistress coming to my house that night, last minute."

Some of the donors' money helped pay for Hunter's "spiritual adviser," Young testified, adding that Hunter once called the adviser when the wrong sauce arrived on her Reuben sandwich.

On another occasion, she said, Hunter rejected a hotel room because it didn't have "good energy."

After the Enquirer published pictures of Hunter and confronted Edwards about the affair, Young said, her immediate reaction was "Oh, my God. ... Well, i wanted to say 'I told you so,' but I didn't."

Steven Friedland, a professor at the Elon University School of Law in Elon, N.C., said Young succeeded in "personalizing this whole situation for the Youngs and showing that it's not really about the Youngs."

Instead, Friedland said, she showed that "it was about John Edwards" and how the Youngs "sacrificed for him and his presidential aspirations." 

Michael Austin and Stacey Klein of NBC News and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

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