In a rare move, leaders of the Senate Ethics Committee will take to the Senate floor this afternoon to inform their colleagues about their two-year investigation into the sex scandal and legal issues surrounding it that lead Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to resign earlier this month.
Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the ethics panel, and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), the ranking member, are scheduled to give a floor speech about their findings in the case against the Nevada Republican who admitted to having an affair with a former campaign aide, Cynthia Hampton, and then helping her husband, also a top aide, establish a brief lobbying career.
Formal accusations and charges have focused on the great lengths — and potentially illegal steps — Ensign took to keep the affair quiet, including having his parents (wealthy Las Vegas casino owners) pay the Hamptons $96,000 in hush money.
Ensign was also accused of knowingly helping Doug Hampton violate the one-year lobbying ban by helping him set up a short-lived job on K Street.
If the ethics committee has found any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, they must forward that evidence to the Justice Department for further investigation.
In March federal prosecutors charged Doug Hampton with seven counts of violating conflict-of-interest laws. In December Ensign said the Justice Department had told him he was no longer a target in its probe, but shortly after the Ethics Committee’s hiring of a special counsel to continue its investigation, Ensign said he would retire instead of seeking reelection.
The Federal Election Commission said the $96,000 payments did not violate campaign-finance law because they were paid in installments to the Hamptons and their children in amounts allowed under U.S. tax law.
Still insisting he did nothing wrong, in announcing his resignation in April, Ensign said he decided it was time to go after the Ethics Committee named a special prosecutor to continue looking into the matter, even though he believed the Justice Department had dropped its case and the FEC has dismissed the accusations against him.
