John Ensign

DOJ Access To Ensign Emails Could Determine His Legal Fate

Susan Crabtree | May 27, 2011, 4:40PM

Former Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) legal fate may hinge on a gray area of the law governing the separation-of-powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government.

The Senate Ethics Committee's decision to hand over all of its evidence in the case against Ensign to the Justice Department - which includes hundreds of e-mails as Reuters' Murray Waas reported Thursday -- has raised new questions about the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution and whether it can prevent DOJ prosecutors from using those e-mails and other documents obtained in the panel's investigation that ended the Nevada Republican's once promising political career.

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John Ensign

'Jack Him Up To High Heaven' Ensign Said After Constituent Refused To Hire His Mistress' Husband

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 4:48PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was so aggressive in helping Doug Hampton, the husband of his ex-mistress and a former top Senate aide, violate the one-year lobbying ban after Hampton resigned that he threatened to cut off constituents who refused to hire Hampton.

After Hampton learned about the affair between his wife, Cynthia, and Ensign, the senator told Hampton he could not longer work for him and started negotiating a severance payment. Ensign also set out to find him work, meeting with constituents and recommending they hire Hampton.

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John Ensign

The Last Senate Expulsion: 1862 (With Some Close Calls Since)

Eric Kleefeld | May 12, 2011, 3:40PM

With the news that the Senate Ethics Committee would likely have recommended the expulsion of former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who resigned last week, it's worth asking the question: When was the last time a senator was actually expelled?

The last House expulsion was in 2002, with the Senate expelling Rep. James Traficant (D-OH) after he was convicted on corruption charges, but the last Senate expulsion was much further back. As the Senate historian's office told TPM, the last time a Senator was expelled was in 1862, when Sen. Jesse Bright (D-IN) was expelled for supporting the Confederacy. Indeed, a total of 15 senators were expelled for that reason in the early years of the Civil War, with Bright being the last -- and also the only one from a non-Confederate and non-border state.

On other rare occasions, as in the case of Ensign, senators who faced likely expulsion would instead resign before such a vote would be taken. In recent history, Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR) resigned in 1995 after the the Ethics Committee recommended expulsion following an investigation into alleged sexual abuse of female former staffers. In 1982, Sen. Harrison Williams (D-NJ) resigned after he had been convicted of bribery the previous year, as a result of an FBI sting, and efforts to appeal the verdict had failed.

Here's what got Bright expelled, courtesy of the Senate's history web site:

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John Ensign

Senate Ethics Refers Ensign Case to DOJ, FEC

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 2:34PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The Senate Ethics Committee has uncovered extensive evidence that former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and others broke U.S. law by trying to cover up an affair Ensign had with a campaign aide, the wife of one of his top Senate staffers.

The panel has forwarded the evidence of criminal activities to the Department of Justice for further investigation, which it is required to do in any investigation that turns up evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the ethics panel, and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), said in letters to the DOJ and FEC released Thursday along with a final report from a special prosecutor handling the case.

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John Ensign

Boxer And Isakson To Address Ensign Ethics Case

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 1:25PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

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.

Dean Heller

Heller To Take Senate Oath, Replace Resigned Sen. Ensign

Jon Terbush | May 9, 2011, 1:16PM

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)

The U.S. Senate will return to full strength on Monday when Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) is sworn in to replace Sen. John Ensign, who resigned last week after the fallout from a sex scandal and resulting ethics investigations continued to cloud his tenure.

After polls showed his popularity plummeting and the odds of retaining his seat next year dwindling, Ensign announced early this year that he would not seek reelection in 2012. Then in late April, as his political standing worsened and as a Senate ethics investigation dragged on, Ensign decided to end his term even sooner, saying he would resign on May 3.

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Republicans Make Power Play To Gut Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Brian Beutler | May 6, 2011, 4:11PM

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

On Thursday, while House Republicans were dealing with a small Medicare privatization snafu, their Senate counterparts laid down an impossible marker. Forty four of their 47 members have signed on to a letter threatening to filibuster any nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unless it is dramatically weakened.

"We will not support the consideration of any nominee, regardless of party affiliation, to be the CFPB director until the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reformed," reads a letter, co-authored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member of the Banking Committee.

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John Ensign

Scandal-Plagued Sen. Ensign Delivers Emotional Farewell As Bin Laden Distracts

Benjy Sarlin | May 2, 2011, 4:44PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

With the world's eyes focused on the late Osama Bin Laden and Congress largely quiet, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) ended his tumultuous political career with a farewell speech from the Senate floor on Monday afternoon.

Ensign, who announced his resignation last month almost two years after revealing an extramarital affair with a staffer, issued an apology to his family and fellow lawmakers -- and a warning to avoid his path to ruin.

In his remarks, Ensign lamented how he had grown "blind to how arrogant and self-centered that I had become" en route to his scandal, even as he saw the same self-centeredness exhibited in his Senate colleagues.

"My caution to all of my colleagues is to surround yourself with people who will be honest with you about how you really are and what you are becoming, and then make them promise to not hold back, no matter how much you may try to prevent them, from telling you the truth," Ensign said. "I wish that I had done this sooner, but this is one of the hardest lessons that I've had to learn."

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