• June 16, 2009: Ensign publicly admits to the affair.
• June 19, 2009: Ensign’s spokesman confirms to the AP that Ensign helped Doug Hampton get a job at Allegiant Air after the affair ended and Hampton left Ensign’s office - “just as he has done for many other staff members.”
• July 8, 2009: Doug Hampton breaks his silence over the affair in an interview with Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun, for which he also releases the handwritten letter from Ensign to Cindy Hampton.
• July 9, 2009: Good-government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) calls for a criminal investigation into payments made by Ensign to Cindy Hampton, based on Doug’s new allegations.
• July 9, 2009: In a statement from his lawyer, Ensign admits the payments made by his parents, saying they didn’t violate any campaign-finance or tax laws.
• July 9, 2009: Sen. Coburn denies Hampton’s claim that Coburn urged Ensign to pay “restitution” to the Hamptons for the affair. Coburn says he counseled Ensign over the affair as a “physician” and “ordained deacon,” and therefore won’t reveal anything further about what he said, even as part of a criminal investigation.
Research assistance by Versha Sharma
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