what we have done today. melanie, one of the surprising things in what the ethics committee reported today is that there are no surprises, that the story actually unfolds once fully investigated exactly the way it seemed to, as these facts were coming out in dribs and drabs in press reports. that s exactly right. the one thing that had never seemed true at all was when mr. ensign had said the $96,000 that was paid to the hamptons was really just a gift from his parents. and that of course seemed like severance right away, a severance payment to the hamptons. and of course doug hampton also had a bunch of contemperaneous notes indicating that it was. and today we learned indeed there s lots of evidence that was a severance payment, which would violate federal election campaign act. it also suggests that john ensign s parents, michael ensign and his wife, submitted false affidavits to the fec as did senator ensign. and it seems like their lawyers in that situation knew and
he decided to get rid of doug hampton out of his office. so all the subsequent violations, the $96,000 severance payment that john just referred to, we re talking about the conspiracy to violate the cooling-off period, and the lobbying in violation of that one-year cooling-off period, all of that flowed from the the decision from ensign to eject doug hampton from his office and his employ. of course, john, there s other issue of hypocrisy. he said during the clinton affair with lewinsky, that it was an embarrassing moment for the company and clinton has no credibility left. how much credibility does he have left, now that he s been run out of the senate, and he pretended he was leaving, you know, because it was his decision, but he had to know they were coming for him here, and this appears to be worse than the clinton case, because again, as we talked about, some significant criminal possibility here. well, john ensign has
another staffer, all of which was taking place as he was serving as the republican party s senate campaign chairman. in the next election, the republicans lost a ton of seats in the senate. when john ensign s affair was outed, the senator cut both of the staffers in the situation loose. he cut loose the one he was shtooping and the one he was married to. both of them had to leave john ensign s employ. but when they did, john ensign s parents cut their family a check for $96,000. his mom and dad did it. they are very wealthy apparently. they own casinos. if that $96,000 was a severance payment to the senator s girlfriend and her husband, that could be construed as illegal. so a lawyer for the ensign family claimed at the time that this $96,000 was really just a gift, a gift specifically structured as eight separate $12,000 payments to avoid paying
in the next election, the republicans lost a ton of seats in the senate. when john ensign s affair was outed, the senator cut both of the staffers in the situation loose. he cut loose the one he was shtooping and the one he was married to. both of them had to leave john ensign s employ. but when they did, john ensign s parents cut their family a check for $96,000. his mom and dad did it. they are very wealthy apparently. they own casinos. if that $96,000 was a severance payment to the senator s girlfriend and her husband, that could be construed as illegal. so a lawyer for the ensign family claimed at the time that this $96,000 was really just a
the staffer says that she was fired after rejecting the advances. he denies that claim. today the congressman at his office put out a statement confirming the settlement, but it said the amount that a equated to a reasonable severance payment. he still has some explaining to do, because according to the same bombshell report from buzzfeed, other staffers have accused him of requesting favors and inappropriate touching, and one aide says her job was to use your taxpayer dollars to fly in women.ch she assumed congressman was having an affair with. buzzfeed is also reporting tonight that a new accuser is speaking out saying that she faced daily sexual harassment from the democratic congressman that included unwanted touching. congressman conyers, he is saying he will cooperate withh the investigation. i don t agree with the word this guy has ever said over thete years, but like everybody else, he is denying it. he s been accused of