The Las Vegas news station adds more details about who has been contacted by investigators looking into the John Ensign sex-and-lobbying scandal.
Perhaps most significantly, it reports that “[e]xecutives at card companies eCommLink, Selling Source and Pay Card USA have been served by the grand jury.”
That matters because those are some of the companies which, the station reported earlier, asked for Ensign’s help in avoiding new regulations, in exchange for a $28,000 donation to the NRSC, which was chaired at the time by Ensign. So the news that the card companies have been subpoenaed adds to the evidence that the Feds are actively exploring that possible quid pro quo — which could have even more serious implications for the senator than allegations about his help for Doug Hampton.
Additionally, the station reports:
• Sig Rogich, an influential Nevada Republican political consultant and fundraiser, has received a subpoena from the Senate Ethics Committee.
• Pete Ernaut, a Nevada “public relations guru,” has been asked by the committee for information.
• John Lopez, Ensign’s former chief of staff, also has been subpoenaed, though it’s not clear whether this is by the Ethics committee or the Justice Department.
A spokeswoman for Allegiant Air, an airline run by an Ensign backer which hired Hampton and his son, declined to comment to TPMmuckraker on whether it too had been subpoenaed.
The Senate Ethics committee also declined to comment.