As John Edwards’ campaign finance trial begins today, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that just 3% of registered voters hold a favorable view of him.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is questioning the U.S. Secret Service about possible involvement of White House staff in the Colombian prostitution scandal, the Washington Times reports.

At issue: “Did the Secret Service reserve rooms at the Hotel Caribe or other hotels in Cartagena, Colombia for representatives of the WHCA or the White House Advance Team? If so, have records for overnight guests for those entities been pulled as part of the investigation? If not, why not?”

John Edwards goes on trial Monday “on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,” Reuters reports.

Washington Post: “Investigators now suspect that as many as 21 foreign prostitutes were
brought by U.S. Secret Service and military personnel to the Hotel
Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia, last week during a night of carousing, a
dramatic increase in the number of women previously disclosed by
government officials.”

John Edwards was criticized for getting $400 haircuts while running for president, but the New York Post reports he “now goes to Supercuts in Raleigh, NC, for a $12.95 job, employees say.”

Said one hairdresser: “We just talked about his hair.”

Jay Parmley, the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, resigned “as questions mounted about a secret agreement to pay a former staffer to keep quiet about sexual harassment allegations,” the Raleigh News & Observer reports.

He denied harassing any employee and blamed right-wing political enemies for “spreading a false and misleading story.”

He added, “Even though I have not done anything wrong, it is clear to me that I need to move on.”

Secret Service agents sent to Colombia ahead of President Obama were sent home amid allegations of misconduct, CNN reports.

“The incident — reportedly related to involvement with prostitutes in Cartagena — overshadowed the start of the sixth Summit of the Americas, where the president was to focus on trade, energy and regional security.”

Ronald Kessler, author of In the President’s Service, said it’s “the biggest scandal in Secret Service history.”

According to Kessler, “One of the agents did not pay one of the prostitutes, and she complained to the police.”

Two legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on charges of tax fraud as early as this week.

With John Edwards denying reports he used a prostitution ring in New York City, New York magazine gives a brief history of Edwards denying things — many of which later proved true.

Former Sen. John Edwards “allegedly used the services of a call girl employed by accused Soccer Mom Madam Anna Gristina while he was running for President,” the New York Daily News reports.

Update: USA Today says Edwards denied the report through his lawyer: “Mr Edwards categorically denies that he was involved with any prostitute or service. These allegations are false, defamatory, and he puts those who would publish or repeat them on notice that they acting with actual malice by reporting or repeating them. He has demanded a complete retraction from the only source being quoted.”

Federal prosecutors granted John Edwards’ former mistress Rielle Hunter immunity from criminal charges for anything she says on the witness stand during the former presidential candidate’s upcoming trial, WRAL reports.

Jury selection is to begin April 12, and prosecutors say it’s possible Hunter will be asked to testify.

Former Minnesota Senate staffer Michael Brodkorb “claims he was fired because of an affair with former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and intends to prove other employees who had trysts with legislators were allowed to continue working,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Said his lawyer: “He intends to depose all of the female legislative staff employees who participated in intimate relationships, as well as the legislators who were party to those intimate relationships.”

The National Enquirer reports that John Edwards has reportedly decided “to have another child with the woman who destroyed his marriage,” according to the Daily Mail.

“Rielle Hunter is reportedly hoping to become pregnant before Edwards’ trial in April, after which he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in jail.”

The long-running court battle over a sexually explicit videotape featuring John Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, has been settled out of court today and all copies of the tape will be destroyed, ABC News reports.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French presidential hopeful whose political career was ruined last year after he was accused of attempted rape in New York, is suspected “of complicity in activities related to prostitution in
Paris and Washington, where two businessmen are accused of paying for
orgies in 2010 and 2011,” the New York Times reports.

His lawyer offered a unique defense: “He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman.”

“Patrick Sullivan was the kind of lawman Coloradoans loved: a straight-shooting Republican sheriff who once crashed a Jeep through a fence to rescue two deputies from a gunman and pleaded with legislators to keep assault weapons off the street lest any more citizens get shot,” the New York Times reports.

Yesterday afternoon, though, police arrested Sullivan “on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name.”

Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) “fiercely denied allegations by distant relatives that he sexually abused a then-12-year-old second cousin several decades ago,” the AP reports.

Kildee, who will retire next year, accused the relatives of working
with “political adversaries to destroy my reputation by lying about
something that never took place.”

The Washington Times first reported the allegations.