TPMMuckraker
Zachary Roth

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

Gerald Walpin

AmeriCorps Board Member: We Initiated IG Firing

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 4:44PM

The White House's decision to fire the AmeriCorps inspector general was set in motion by a unanimous request it received from the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which asked the White House to review the IG's performance, according to a board member.

The firing "would not have played itself out" were it not for the fact that the board raised concerns about the IG, Gerald Walpin, after the May 20 board meeting, a board member told TPMmuckraker. The board member added that the White House had no role in encouraging the board to make the review request, calling it "completely board-initiated." The White House had cited the request from the board in its letter to Congress explaining the reason for Walpin's firing.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin

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?

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Topics: John Ensign, Media, Sex

Allen Stanford

Stanford Indicted On Criminal Charges

Zachary Roth | June 19, 2009, 1:12PM

The bell has finally tolled for Allen Stanford.

Federal prosecutors today filed a criminal indictment against the billionaire Texan, as well as three other Stanford Financial Group executives and the former head of the Antiguan bank regulatory agency, charging them with helping to orchestrate a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Financial Crisis, Justice Department, Stanford Financial Group

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:

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

Gerald Walpin

Conservatives Launch Full Court Press On IG Firing

Zachary Roth | June 18, 2009, 6:10PM

Conservatives are starting to smell blood on the IG firing story.

Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch -- the conservative-leaning government watchdog that made life miserable for President Clinton in the '90s -- tells TPMmuckraker that his group is eager to work with the canned IG, Gerald Walpin, to keep the pressure on the White House over the firing. "We have let it be known that we'd like to talk to Mr. Walpin," said Fitton.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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:

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Topics: FBI, John Ensign, Sex

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

Barack Obama

Grassley Still Not Happy With White House Explanation For IG Firing

Zachary Roth | June 18, 2009, 9:52AM

OK, it sounds like Chuck Grassley isn't satisfied with the White House's explanation for why it fired the AmeriCorps inspector general.

White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen met personally with the Iowa GOP senator and his staff yesterday morning, to go over the reasons for the firing of the IG, Bush appointee Gerald Walpin. Eisen had first detailed those reasons in a letter to Congress sent Tuesday night.

But in a new letter sent last night to Eisen's boss, White House counsel Greg Craig, Grassley writes that in that meeting, Eisen "refused to answer several direct questions posed to him about the representations made in his letter."

Grassley went on to lay out a new list of questions, essentially asking for a step-by-step walk-through of how the decision to fire Walpin was made. For instance, he wants Craig to tell him in writing:

Specifically, which CNCS Board members came forward with concerns about Mr. Walpin's ability to serve as the Inspector General?

And:

Which witnesses were interviewed in the course of Mr. Eisen's review?

And:

What efforts were made during Mr. Eisen's review to obtain both sides of the story or to afford the Office of Inspector General an opportunity to be heard?

As we noted yesterday, Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat who had earlier raised concerns that the White House hadn't explained to Congress its reasons for the firing, indicated yesterday that, in light of the White House's letter, she's now largely satisfied.

Grassley, not so much. On to the next round...

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin

Gerald Walpin

McCaskill: Reasons For Firing IG Are "Well Founded"

Zachary Roth | June 17, 2009, 5:58PM

We asked earlier today whether Sen. Claire McCaskill would be satisfied with the White House's explanation of its reasons for firing AmeriCorps IG Gerald Walpin. And it looks the answer is yes.

McCaskill said in a statement, reports CNN, that the White House was now in full compliance with the law, and added: "The reasons given in the most recent White House letter are substantial and the decision to remove Walpin appears well founded."

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin

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.

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Topics: John Ensign, NRSC, Sex

Gerald Walpin

Fired IG: Obama-ites Are Out To "Attack Me And Get Rid Of Me"

Zachary Roth | June 17, 2009, 2:51PM

Gerald Walpin, the AmeriCorps inspector general who was recently fired by the White House, has shot back at his former bosses over the dismissal -- but he hasn't done much to undo the impression that he's far from an independent, non-partisan figure.

Last night, the White House sent a letter to Congress explaining why it fired Walpin. Ethics counsel Norm Eisen wrote Walpin, 78, was "confused" and "disoriented" at a recent board meeting, that he had been absent from the office, and that he had shown a "lack of candor" in providing information to decision-makers. That seemed to refer to a formal complaint issued by a local US Attorney regarding Walpin's work on a probe of the Obama ally, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson. The complaint charged Walpin with, among other things, withholding from the US Attorney's office pertinent information he had obtained.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin

John Conyers

Conyers' Wife Facing Scrutiny Over Bribery Scandal

Zachary Roth | June 17, 2009, 2:02PM

Rep. John Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary committee, has played a prominent role in recent years exposing executive-branch muck, from the US Attorneys scandal to torture. So it's ironic that Conyers' wife is caught up in some serious muck of her own.

The scandal has been brewing for a while, but it reached boiling point Monday, when Rayford Jackson, a Detroit businessman, admitted in a plea deal with prosecutors that he had bribed a council member in 2007, to gain approval for a $1.2-billion waste disposal contract. The Detroit Free Press had previously reported that the council member in question, described in court documents, is Monica Conyers.

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Topics: House Judiciary, John Conyers, Torture, U.S. Attorneys

Barack Obama

White House Explains IG Firing -- Will It Be Enough?

Zachary Roth | June 17, 2009, 12:36PM

We knew the White House was going to have to offer a fuller explanation for its firing of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service who had clashed with an Obama ally.

And now it has. In a letter sent last night to Congress, reports Politico, Norm Eisen, the White House ethics counsel, wrote that at a May 20 board meeting, Walpin, 78, had been "confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior that led the Board to question his capacity to serve."

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Topics: Barack Obama, Gerald Walpin, U.S. Attorneys

George Bush

Miers Testifies In US Attorneys Probe -- When Will Rove?

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 6:06PM

Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel under President Bush, has finally testified, behind closed doors, as part of Congress's investigation of the US attorney firings, reports FOXNews.com.

That raises an obvious question: When will Karl Rove do the same? Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, told TPMmuckraker last month that he expected Rove to testify in early June. But today Luskin did not immediately return our call.

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Topics: George Bush, Harriet Miers, House Judiciary, John Cornyn, Justice Department, Karl Rove, U.S. Attorneys

Racism

Accused Far-Right Killer Has Bizarre, Troubled Past

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 5:18PM

So this morning, the story of Shawna Forde -- the alleged ringleader in the recent murder of a nine-year-old girl and her father near the US-Mexico border -- appeared to be pretty run-of-the-mill stuff: it looked like your standard plot to start a "revolution against the US government" by recruiting members of the Aryan Nations to a vigilante anti-immigrant border-patrol group, in order to rob Mexican drug cartels, then use that money to free kidnap victims in Syria.

Dog bites man, we figured.

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Topics: Racism, Right-wing extremism

Right-wing extremism

More Far-Right Violence? Anti-Immigrant Suspects In Arizona Killing Have Ties To White Supremacists

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 12:48PM

The recent murders of a Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions and of a guard at the National Holocaust Museum have stoked fears of a rise in right-wing extremist violence -- just as that much-maligned DHS report predicted. And now it looks like we've got another one to add to the list...

According to local law enforcement, three people posing as police officers forced their way into the home of Raul Flores in Arivaca, Arizona, about 10 miles from the Mexican border, on May 30. They shot and killed Flores and his nine-year-old daughter, and wounded Flores' wife. The three, Shawna Forde, Jason Bush, and Albert Gaxiola, were arrested and charged last Thursday and Friday.

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Topics: Racism, Right-wing extremism

Barack Obama

Obama Admin Mimics Bush Again: White House Records Are Secret

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 10:03AM

Add another (perhaps more minor) entry to the list of ways in which the Obama administration is mimicking its predecessor on issues of transparency.

MSNBC.com reports that the Secret Service has denied the news outlet's request for the names of visitors to the White House since President Obama was sworn in. It also denied a narrower request by the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for records of visits by coal executives.

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Topics: Barack Obama, George Bush, Torture

John Murtha

Murtha, Visclosky, PMA, Kuchera: What's Going On?

Zachary Roth | June 15, 2009, 3:53PM

Rep. John Murtha has long been on good-government groups' lists of the most corrupt lawmakers in Washington. But in recent months, the veteran Pennsylvania Democratic powerbroker has been under particularly intense scrutiny for his ties to two companies that are each the targets of federal investigations.

So it's worth taking a moment to consider what's going on in each case, and what it all amounts to.

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Topics: John Murtha, Lobbyists, Nancy Pelosi, PMA, Pete Visclosky

Barack Obama

Grassley Wants More Info On AmeriCorps IG Firing

Zachary Roth | June 15, 2009, 11:34AM

On Friday, we took a look at the White House's firing of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, who had clashed with an Obama ally, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson. We concluded that, though the White House should offer a more detailed explanation for the firing, it looks like there was ample reason to get rid of Walpin.

But we're not the only ones asking for more information. ABC News reports that Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-IA) has sent a letter to the chair of CNCS asking for all relevant information and documents pertaining to the firing.