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

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

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?

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: