An aide to President Obama testified Wednesday that John Edwards' mistress was considered by his inner circle to be a "loose cannon," as she explained a confrontation between the former presidential candidate's wife and donors who financially supported his lover. 

Jennifer Palmieri, a former Edwards spokeswoman who now serves as deputy communications director for President Obama, said that in October 2007, Edwards called her to his Iowa hotel room. There, his wife Elizabeth was questioning billionaire Fred Baron and his wife Lisa Blue Baron about why they had taken Rielle Hunter on a shopping trip and flown her on private jets. 

"Lisa was saying that you've got to hold your friends close and your enemies closer," Palmieri recalled. "Rielle was a loose cannon and we just didn't know what she would say to the press." 

Palmieri's testimony proved to be a mixed blessing for prosecutors when they asked her about their key witness, former campaign aide Andrew Young. 

"He seemed insincere to me, might sort of exaggerate his experiences," she said. 

Another witness, former speechwriter Wendy Button, testified that Edwards was aware of Mr. Baron's financial and logistical support for his pregnant mistress while she was in hiding. 

"He said that he had known all along that Baron was taking care of things," Button said. 

However, she said Edwards did not acknowledge assistance from another donor, Rachel "Bunny" Mellon until long after his 2008 presidential campaign. 

"He only used the phrase he had 'just learned' about Bunny Mellon," Button said. 

During cross-examination, Edwards' lawyers asked Button whether she had ever participated in any of the discussions concerning logistics of hiding her former boss's affair. 

"I didn't have any role in any of these events that took place that led to this moment," she said.
Prosecutors plan to wrap up their witness testimony by Thursday. It remains unclear whether they plan to call Hunter to the stand. 

"If the prosecution feels its case is made, she is a question mark for them and they probably would not want to call her," said Steven Friedland, a law professor at Elon University. "On the other hand, they know that she'll be called by the defense. And if (prosecutors) do not call her, the jury may think they're covering something up."