Fox News Denies Report: We Didn't Force Ensign To Admit Affair

Fox New is denying claims that Doug Hampton — whose wife Cynthia is the other woman in Senator John Ensign's sex scandal — sent the network a letter pleading for help exposing the affair five days before the Senator announced it in a press conference and that Ensign came forward with the affair because he knew Fox was working on the story.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Friday that Hampton sent Fox News' Megyn Kelly a two-page, single-spaced letter dated June 11 detailing the affair and asking for help in exposing the Senator. The Senator came forward with the affair on June 16 — in part, a spokesman told the Sun, because his office had learned that Hampton approached "a major television news channel."

"We learned of this fact before the news conference," the spokesman told the Sun.

Tom Lowell, senior producer of "America's Newsroom," hosted by Kelly and Bill Hemmer, says no one at Fox News ever received a printed letter, but that a booker on the show received an email from Hampton with the letter attached on June 15 — the day before the Senator's press conference.

"We never received any letter from Mr. Hampton," Lowell told the Huffington Post. "He might have sent it, but we never received it. He did reach out to us about 24 hours before the news conference, and he sent an e-mail to a booker on my staff."

Lowell said that a member of his editorial staff followed up with Hampton that day.

"We followed up with him, but he seemed evasive and not credible, thus we didn't pursue it," he said. "We certainly weren't going to rush to air with accusations against a sitting Senator without doing due diligence on the reputability of the claims.

"We always evaluate people when they call into the newsroom in terms of: does this sound like its solid? Does it sound like its actionable?" Lowell said. "There were some questions here, so we decided that we would make some inquiries but that it wasn't something we needed to move on immediately. And before we could nail everything down and confirm this story the Senator had already announced his press conference.

"We get hundreds and hundreds of items a week," he added. "They could be requests for help, please look into this, I think someone did this...we have to filter all that. Clearly this guy had a story to tell and we just didn't get to it before the Senator got to it."

Lowell also stated emphatically that no one at Fox News reached out to the Senator to alert him about the story.

"I know there are people asking if we alerted the senator," Lowell said. "Definitely no one on our editorial team called anyone in Senator Ensign's office prior to the announcement. We just hadn't gotten to that point of confirming the story yet. Somehow, somebody told the Senator something and I don't know how that happened. But I categorically deny that we ever reached out to the senator in any way shape or form prior to him making his announcement."

Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola could not be reached for comment Friday morning.

Get HuffPost Media On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[goldcoastsailor]

Why didn't this Hampton guy go to MSNBC or CNN? He sounds really dumb if he thought fox would help break his story.

[arspar183]

I'm glad he didn't go to msnbc or cnn. the repugs would be spinning it big time.....t­he liberal media forced hampton to do this in order to take down a gop senator etc.......­...

[garyc4]

Anyone running on the "family values" Evangelical Christian platform caught in this situation needs to resign. Christians need to remember that corruption in the name of God is as old as the human race and that they are being sold down the river by republican hypocrites. Jesus said "You will know them by their fruits". Enough said.

[ObamAtomic]

Hello,that lady from Alaska(palin) and Newt are trying to present themselves as
family values champions.
haha!

[nkd]

If, as reported here, Fox was trying to "...make some inquiries but that it wasn't something we needed to move on immediately. And before we could nail everything down and confirm this story the Senator had already announced his press conference­."

To whom did they make those inquiries? Who did they talk to in trying to "nail everything down? Someone chief of staff? Senator Coburn? Who? Oh, wait just a minute.... no, I didn't get any voicemails, so I didn't get a call. Hmmm? Maybe the Senator's wife? How do you confirm a story without calling someone involved in the story? Something stinks.

[Dbos]

THEY WERE INVOLVED

[rixter1965]

Who really cares if John Ensign had an affair?!? So what...

The lesson that the press needs to learn from yet another GOPer admitting to an affair becomes relevant in the future (no doubt, the near future). WHen yet another pompous Senate or House windbag gets in front of a microphone and starts blathering on about the "sanctity of marriage" and "diluting the cultural meaning of marriage" as part of an argument against marriage equality for all Americans, the first question asked should be: "Have you personally ever done anything to violate the santicity of your marriage? Have you diluted the cultural meaning of marriage by having an affair? If you vote to "uphold traditional marriage" and it is discovered later that you have been unfaithful to your spouse, will you resign immediately?"

[Decipherer]

You're missing the point, actually several points.

First and foremost, Ensign used public and GOP money essentially to bribe (hush-up) evidence of the affair by making sure his lover, her husband, and her 19- year old son were highly compensated via his office and the Republican Senatorial Committee whiche he chaired.

It's not the affair, it's the misuse and misappropriation of money, taxpayer and otherwise. This makes the matter a potential criminal offense.

Second, it is the unbridled hypocrisy of a U.S. Senator who in high dungeon, dripping with holier than thou piety, called for Bill Clinton's and Larry Craig's resignations for similar "offenses," and who said previously he and others should be held to that ethical standard.

Yet, not a peep from him or the GOP about his resignation. Why?

I couldn't care less whether people like this have affairs and with whom. Those are private matters. Where it becomes public is when a guy like Ensign uses hush money (bribes) -- our money -- to cover it up.

And then there is the hypocrisy. Get out, Ensign, get out now.

[greysells2]

"Decipherer "Yet, not a peep from him or the GOP about his resignation. Why?

He and the GOP are waiting for this to blow over. A few apologies, some prayers, a little of the double shuffle, giving up a Committe Chair, etc. Then he will still have his job. What would it take for some of these men to resign?

The Federal Judge was "convicted" of a crime and still refuses to resign his judgeship and so he will have to be removed via impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate. Guess who gets to vote on that case? Mr. Ensign. Anything wrong with this picture?

"Resign" or even "concede" is not ëven in the Republican vocabulary.

[1088]

You can imagine if this was a Democrat? 24/7 loop on this story by all media. Look what's happening now on this story by the media, NOTHING, NADA, ZIPPO, ZERO information coming from them.

[Decipherer]

You got that right!

What I found refreshing last evening was former Boosh advisor Mark McKinnnon's appearance on Rachel Maddow's show, during which he unambiguously called for a full investigation of the Ensign matter and his immediate resignation.

That is political courage, but of course McKinnon is not an elected official. Too bad he is the ONLY Republican with the guts to call out this hypocrite, and possible criminal, to account.

[ObamAtomic]

GPOpers are insufficient self principles people.

They do no know what is that?
Maybe it sold at the store....l­ol

[langej]

"no one at Fox News reached out to the Senator "

Did anyone at Fox News reach in to him?

[ATLiberal]

Reach around?

[AlteSoldier]

FOX News is a propaganda extension, a propaganda department of the Republican Party. Since
the GOP is full of Liars and Hypocrites, why anyone would listen to Fox is beyond me. But, some Americans cannot ever learn the golden rule, "Do not trust GOP propaganda or talking points!" The GOP will take you down that dark alley and take your life or money every single time.
FOX News is the main vehicle of delivery for these GOP talking points / Propaganda.
How can anyone really trust Fox’s reporting?

[RenoMike]

This is actually a Good-news story. It puts the misguided knuckledraggers here in the great state of Nevada on notice that we're MOVIN' BLUE, BABY."

End of gloat.

[NotMcCain]

So...Fox got a tip about an unethical Republican and tipped HIM off that trouble was brewing.

You notice they don't deny doing it. They deny "forcing him out". Lol. Of course they didn't force him to confess. They would have helped him cover-up if they could. (And I'll bet they outted their source, too. What journalism!)

[sofla954]

You can bet that if Ensign was a Democrat, they would have immediately launched saturation coverage with its own theme music and flashy graphics.

[MimiGardner]

If John Ensign was paying money for access to the wife, doesn't that make him a "john" ?

As I recall, this was why republicans in Albany threatened Gov. Spitzer with impeachment unless he resigned.

[NotMcCain]

"No one on our EDITORIAL team called him".

Of course, that wasn't the question, lol.

[USCitizenShareHolder]

Ain't this some s#!+.

Ensign is going after the man whom wife he had an affair with.

Really, if the man was really bribing him, why didn't he call the law.

Sounds fishy to me.

I guess Ensign is saying "I screwed you wife, now I am going to screw you."

[USCitizenShareHolder]

They only specified that no one on the editorial team called anyone. That leaves everybody else that works at Faux News. They are going to find some lowly scapegoat to fire and blame them for the tip off to the Senator when we all know it came from the tip came from the top.

[Democrab]

Fox has no idea how Ensign was alerted to their knowledge of the affair.
Fox has no idea where the correspondence from the 11th was.
Fox has no idea that the story was credible enough to run so soon.
They're just reminding us of something we already know;
Fox has no idea.