John Ensign

Report: Fox Got Ensign Letter Three Days Earlier Than It Admitted

Zachary Roth | June 24, 2009, 6:50PM

Just as we were all getting sidetracked by one GOP sex scandal, there was an interesting development in another.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Fox News received Doug Hampton's bizarre letter -- about the affair between Hampton's wife Cindy and Sen. John Ensign -- three days earlier than the right-wing news channel had previously acknowledged.

Read more »

John Ensign

Revealed: The Sanford/Ensign Connection

Zachary Roth | June 24, 2009, 3:28PM

We couldn't help noticing during Mark Sanford's reality-show-style press conference that there's a tie-in between this week's GOP 2012 presidential contender sex scandal and last week's involving Sen. John Ensign.

Sanford said that in dealing with his affair, he'd been working with a group called "C Street," which he described as a "Christian bible study." He said he'd been part of the group when he lived in Washington as a congressman earlier this decade.

Read more »

John Ensign

Photo Of Ensign's Girlfriend Surfaces

Zachary Roth | June 23, 2009, 6:32PM

Maybe you're not interested in seeing a picture of John Ensign' former girlfriend, Cindy Hampton. If so, congrats.

But we are. And Inside Edition has finally dug one up.

Read more »

John Ensign

CREW Wants Ethics Probe Of Ensign Affair

Zachary Roth | June 23, 2009, 12:09PM

Could John Ensign face a Senate probe into the events surrounding his affair with a former staffer?

The government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has said it will file a complaint about the philandering Nevada lawmaker with the Senate Ethics committee, centering on whether either Cynthia Hampton or her husband Doug lost their jobs with Ensign because of the affair. Doug Hampton wrote in a letter to Fox News that the affair "led to our dismissal in April of 2008."

Read more »

John Ensign

Did A Shadowy Christian Group Help Keep Ensign's Secret?

Zachary Roth | June 22, 2009, 1:20PM

Senate Republicans, it's becoming clear, aren't exactly lining up to defend John Ensign.

Of course, that's not so surprising, given the damage that sex scandals have inflicted on the GOP in recent years. But could it be that the Ensign imbroglio poses a particularly thorny problem for some Republicans because, aside from the sex and jobs angle, the story threatens to shine an unflattering light on the role of the shadowy religious group to which the Nevada senator belongs?

Read more »

John Ensign

Ensign Lover's Hubby Wanted Money -- But Through His Lawyer

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 6:28PM

Team Ensign is continuing to walk back its original claim that Doug Hampton, the husband of the senator's girlfriend, tried to extort Ensign.

As we've already noted, that was the line the Ensign camp put out in the early days of the scandal. For instance, FOXNews.com reported:

Two Senate Republican sources close to Sen. John Ensign of Nevada told FOX News that a former employee had asked Ensign for money in what both sources described as a case of "extortion."

But now, an Ensign spokesman tells the AP that within the last month Hampton made "exorbitant demands for cash and other financial benefits" through an attorney, and that the matter was referred to Ensign's lawyer.

In other words, Hampton threatened a lawsuit. Unless you've got an amazingly ham-handed lawyer, that's a far cry from extortion, which can be a felony. Had extortion occurred, Ensign's lawyer would presumably have had to contact law enforcement, and there's no evidence that happened.

The new lawsuit claim is consistent with the letter sent by Hampton to Fox News, in which Hampton wrote:

I have sought a number of lawyers who are having difficulty finding charges that may hold up in court. There are either technicalities that exist due to the time period in which I have sought help, or other nuances that quite frankly make no sense to me given the egregious acts and blatant abuse of power by Senator Ensign.

So it appears that when the lawsuit angle didn't work out, Hampton went to the media.

As for that whole extortion accusation, it looks like the Ensign camp is hoping everyone will just forget about it.

John Ensign

The Pics John Ensign Doesn't Want You To See

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 5:47PM

Actually, he probably doesn't really care at this point.

Still, check out our slideshow of the key players in the scandal anyway.

John Ensign

Fox: We Didn't Tip Off Ensign About That Crazy Letter To Kelly

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 1:31PM

Fox News has denied tipping off Sen. John Ensign after receiving that bizarre letter from Doug Hampton, in which Hampton asked for Fox anchor Megyn Kelly's help in exposing Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife Cynthia.

Tom Lowell, the senior producer of Kelly's show, has told the Huffington Post that a booker for the show did get Hampton's letter, via email, the day before Ensign went public about the affair. Lowell said a producer followed up with Hampton, but he seemed "evasive and not credible," so Fox didn't pursue it -- which, frankly, sounds reasonable.

But more importantly, Lowell said no one at Fox had let Ensign's camp know about the letter. "I categorically deny that we ever reached out to the senator in any way shape or form prior to him making his announcement," Lowell said.

So that still leaves a big mystery: Ensign has now said clearly that it was the threat to go to a TV news show that prompted him to go public. So how did Ensign know about that?

John Ensign

Timeline Suggests Ensign's Help For Hampton Was Hardly Routine

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 12:31PM

So as we told you earlier today, Senator John Ensign has now admitted that he helped Doug Hampton, the husband of the senator's girlfriend, find employment after both Hamptons left Ensign's office. Ensign's office pointed out that he has done the same thing "for many other staff members." That's almost certainly true -- it's hardly unusual.

But a close look at the timeline of l'affaire Ensign makes a few things clear:

Read more »

John Ensign

Husband Of Ensign's Girlfriend To Fox's Kelly: Help Me Expose Senator's "Relentless Pursuit Of My Wife"

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 9:48AM

OK, now the Ensign story is really getting good.

Yesterday we wrote about how Team Ensign is now saying that they went public about the affair because Doug Hampton, the husband of Ensign's girlfriend, was threatening to go to a TV news station about it. We asked whether Ensign was now walking back an earlier claim -- which seemed to come from his camp -- that Hampton had tried to extort him.

Read more »

John Ensign

Ensign Admits He Helped Girlfriend's Husband Get Jobs

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 9:22AM

The sex is looking like the least interesting aspect of the John Ensign story.

Ensign's camp has confirmed to the Associated Press that the Nevada senator helped Doug Hampton, his old friend and the husband of his girlfriend, to get a job after the affair ended and Hampton left Ensign's office.

Read more »

John Ensign

Ensign Has Close Ties To Second Firm That Employed Hampton

Zachary Roth | June 18, 2009, 4:10PM

The political consulting firm that reportedly employed Doug Hampton, the husband of Sen. John Ensign's former girlfriend, has extremely close ties to the philandering Nevada senator.

Politico previously reported Hampton had gone to work for November Inc., a Nevada political consulting firm "run by several former Ensign aides." But a closer look suggests just how tight Ensign and the firm were.

Read more »

John Ensign

Is Ensign Walking Back Extortion Claim?

Zachary Roth | June 18, 2009, 12:54PM

Did John Ensign's camp try to spin the announcement of his affair by smearing his girlfriend's husband? And is it now trying to walk that back?

Let us explain:

Read more »

John Ensign

EXCLUSIVE: Son And Husband Of Ensign's Girlfriend Work For Company Run By Ensign Backer

Zachary Roth | June 18, 2009, 11:51AM

Both the husband and son of the woman with whom John Ensign had an affair are now employed by a Las Vegas company whose CEO is a major Ensign supporter.

Brandon Hampton, the 19-year-old son of Doug and Cynthia Hampton, works as a representative in the call center for Allegiant Air, an Allegiant spokeswoman told TPMmuckraker.

Read more »

John Ensign

Tangled Web Of Jobs, Money, Illicit Sex Links Ensign, Former Staffers

Zachary Roth | June 17, 2009, 5:25PM

Since Sen. John Ensign confessed to an affair yesterday afternoon, a web of financial and professional ties linking Ensign to his girlfriend, Cynthia Hampton, and to her husband, Doug Hampton, has emerged.

Politico reports that the affair took place from December 2007 until May 2008. Cynthia Hampton was employed last year as the treasurer of Ensign's Senate reelection campaign. And in February, 2008, Ensign made her treasurer of his Battle Born Political Action Committee, when Christopher Ward, who had held the job, was ousted amid a fiscal scandal. The same day, Hampton also took over from Ward as treasurer of the Senate Majority Committee, a joint fundraising committee for six GOP senators, including Ensign, who faced reelection that year. This move, too, appears to have been instigated by Ensign. When Hampton left the campaign in May 2008, Ensign gave her a severance package of an unknown amount.

Read more »