The married ex-senator from North Carolina - whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer -- met with his mistress, blonde divorcée Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 - and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn't leave until early the next morning.

Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards.

Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own.

Both parties denied the report and a close friend of Edwards' came forward and said he was the father of Rielle's baby. But sources say that Edwards was engineering a massive cover up of his shocking infidelity.

Sources say that Edwards and Rielle had met secretly several times, so that he could see his baby and continue his relationship with Rielle.

At 9:45 p.m. (PST) Monday, Edwards appeared at the hotel and was dropped off at a side entrance. A NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporter witnessed the ex-senator get out of a BMW driven by a male companion and stroll into the hotel.

Edwards was not carrying anything. He walked in alone. He was wearing a blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was looking around nervously before he entered the hotel.

Once inside, he interestingly bypassed the lobby and ducked down a side stairs to go to the bottom floor to catch the elevator up - rather than taking the elevator in the main lobby. He went out of his way not to be seen.

Meanwhile, Rielle had reserved rooms 246 and 252 under the name of the friend who had accompanied her from Santa Barbara. Rielle was in one room and McGovern was in another with her baby. This allowed her and Edwards to spend time alone, a source revealed.

Edwards went out of the hotel briefly with Rielle, they were observed by reporters and then went back to her room, where he stayed until attempting to sneak out of the hotel unseen at 2:40 a.m. (PST). But when he emerged alone from an elevator into the hotel basement he was greeted by several reporters.

Reporters asked Edwards why he was visiting Rielle and whether he was ready to confirm that he was the father of her baby.

Shocked to see a reporter, and without saying anything, Edwards ran up the stairs leading from the hotel basement to the lobby. But, spotting a photographer, he doubled back into the basement. As he emerged from the stairwell, a reporter questioned him about his hookup with Rielle.

Edwards did not answer and then ran into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer questions about what he was doing in the hotel. A group of hotel security men eventually escorted him from the men's room, while preventing reporters from following him out of the hotel.

Meanwhile, Rielle's friend also refused to answer any questions or offer any explanation for her meeting with Edwards.