GREENSBORO, N.C. — The political theater of the John Edwards trial turned to psychological drama Tuesday as defense attorneys used question after question to show that Chapel Hill builder Tim Toben made many disparaging remarks against the former presidential candidate and helped his disgruntled former political aide shape the message of his tell-all book.

Toben, a neighbor of Andrew Young who helped spirit a very pregnant Rielle Hunter out of town in late December 2007, was a strong witness for the government on Monday.

His testimony put Edwards back in the middle of what prosecutors contend was an attempt to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

But on Tuesday, defense attorney Allison Van Laningham turned the tenor of the trial back to one that was as much John Edwards versus Andrew Young as it was the government versus John Edwards.

Van Laningham came forward with dozens of emails and text messages exchanged between Toben and Young. The two men, each disillusioned by Edwards for different reasons, dished up many disparaging remarks about the former senator and his cancer-stricken wife. Toben referred to Edwards as a “pathetic little man” and used “skeezzzzze,” a word he made up that encompasses sleaze.

He called Elizabeth Edwards “a power-hungry control freak” and said she and her husband “drove each other mad.”