Ensign Blamed Wife in Letter to Mistress

(NEWSER) - Yet another twist in the John Ensign scandal: The Nevada senator's parents gave his mistress and her family nearly $100,000 when their son's affair came to light, reports the Las Vegas Sun. The Ensigns gave the money to the Hamptons in the form of gifts under $12,000 each to stay in line with tax laws. More»

Evidence mounts that Ensign may have crossed ethics lines

(NEWSER) - John Ensign tried to get a Las Vegas energy firm to hire his lover's husband as a lobbyist, according to new emails making the rounds at the FBI and a Senate ethics panel. The emails, which a source passed off to the New York Times , represent the first written evidence that Ensign tried to steer work to Douglas Hampton, a former top aide, and seem to belie Ensign’s insistence that he didn’t know the jobs would involve lobbying. More»

(NEWSER) - Fox News had the bombshell about Sen. John Ensign’s affair in its lap and didn’t do anything with it, Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post. A Fox producer tells the Huffington Post the network never received a letter Douglas Hampton, the husband of the Republican’s mistress, sent last week, but did get an email from him on Monday. “We followed up with him, but he seemed evasive and not credible,” Tom Lowell said, “thus we didn't pursue it.” More»

Mistress' spouse worked for two firms with tight ties to senator

(NEWSER) - Doug Hampton stopped working for Sen. John Ensign—who was having an affair with Hampton’s wife—in April of last year; he then took jobs with two firms with very tight ties to his former boss, Politico reports. Said an Ensign rep: “Just as he has done for many other staff members, Sen. Ensign made recommendation calls for Mr. Hampton,” the AP reports. More»

(NEWSER) - John Ensign says he revealed his affair with a former staffer earlier this week because of an extortion attempt by the woman and her husband, but no blackmail investigation is under way, law-enforcement officials tell the Las Vegas Sun. The conservative senator's surprise confession also revives earlier speculation that his disappearance from public life for two weeks in 2002 was a consequence of an earlier extramarital relationship, the AP reports. More»