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Edwards' former mistress, Rielle Hunter, obtained a restraining order to get back a "very private and personal" video tape.

Former aide Andrew Young's lawyers dispute whether Hunter is asking for the same video. Hunter said in an affidavit that the video was made in 2006, but Young says he has a video in which a woman engaged in a sexual encounter with Edwards is "noticeably pregnant." Hunter had Edwards' child in 2008.

Young's attorneys, Mark Edwards and Robert Trenkle, said it was possible that Hunter had mischaracterized the tape. Regardless, Young's lawyers argue the video was abandoned property, found in a "box of trash" that Hunter left behind at a home in Chapel Hill that Young rented for her.

"It can only be presumed that if Ms. Hunter had any intention other than to abandon a video recording of her engaged in sexual activities with a presidential candidate, she would have taken all possible steps to prevent that tape from being made public years earlier," Young's attorneys wrote in court documents.

Young has penned a tell-all book about the affair between Edwards and Hunter and claims he found a sex tape showing the candidate and a woman he believes was Hunter. He writes in his book that the tape had been pulled out of its cassette casing, but that he was able to fix it.

Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones has demanded that Young appear in court Friday to explain why he should not be held in contempt for failing to turn over a "private" videotape authored by the candidate's mistress. After Hunter was granted the temporary restraining order, deputies went to retrieve the materials, but Young's attorney told the authorities he could not immediately turn over the items.

Hunter, Young and his wife and children spent months together, traveling around the country to avoid questions about the affair and child Edwards was having with her. Edwards is now separated from his wife, Elizabeth. Young also agreed to falsely claim he was the child's father to protect Edwards.

Young says in his book that he thought the sex tape would protect him as he dealt with "lots of rich and powerful people," and he has said in recent interviews promoting his book that the tape corroborates his story. He said he has been offered large sums of money for it but does not plan to sell it.