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.

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Comments

[Michigan-Woman]

Yeah....ri­ght.

[vote2009]

lol, nice one.

[Travis bdboy]

Faux news would never tell a lie....we didn't tell the senator that we had the letter

We would never do that....bu­t he admitted to his dickydodaday before we had a

chance to go on air..

If you believe this, I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you

[vote2009]

lol, nice one.

[ReealOne]

"Tom Lowell, senior producer of "America Newsroom said "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."

No.... say it ain't so. What a joke with their "not bringing accusations without investigating if it's true! FauxNews has done ABSOLUTELY nothing since Pres. Obama, A SITTING PRESIDENT, has been in office except KNOWINGLY spread lies and inuendos to attack his agenda - no matter what the issues are, incite hate and fear mongering, and violence in order to "gin" up their base, AGAINST the Obama Administration ON EVERY ISSUE.... and not only DIDN'T they bother to do due diligence on their rhetoric, but they DIDN'T care for the truth. Plain and simple. So FauxNews can stop with all of their BS about them doing "due diligence on the reputability of the claims".

FauxNews should just "man up" and admit that they warned Ensign about Hampton's accusations, as they did not want to be the ones to come out against a high-ranking Republican. And that's what Hampton get for "trusting" them. FauxNews - "Fair and balanced" my a$$. They should change their logo to "Righ-wingnut Hypocrits".

[BigAl72]

Excellent point!

[JulieSA]

"KNOWINGLY spread li es "

What are some examples of li es they've been telling?

[TovSquirrel]

Distraction, distortion, disinformation and deception:
There are many ways to lie and the MSM (not just News, Inc) knows them all!

[donia1970]

..your computer couldn't hold the download!

[DawnLA]

Hannity edited Pres. Obama's speech to sound like he was supporting terrorist supporters, ACORN, 90% of what Bill O'Reilly says...

[sjones66]

wmd
reporting Republican talking points straight from the republican press release, spelling errors and all
reporting wh talking points without checking them out, doing anything -- they never even read them first
accuse obama of being a muslim
etc etc etc

[ReealOne]

Pick one..... ON ANYTHING, and you won't miss. I'll guarantee ya!

FauxNews are absolute masters at "spin baby spin".

[JerryLevy]

Fox seems to do a good job of breaking stories before others. It was Fox that broke the story that G.W. Bush had a DUI at age 29 just a week before the election. No one else picked this up. Go FOX, keep reporting.

[HBD]

"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."

That would be the first time ever!

I wonder when they got a conscience? My guess is that it's a conscience that kicks in only for the far right.

[Rangergirl]

I am positive that Fox gave Ensign a heads up to let him come out first. They really would only protect this high ranking repub..

[foxistoofunny]

Will Chris Wallace interview Ensign anytime soon on fox sunday?

[curiousdemo]

Ensign and Fox Noise is "Caught in a trap, Can't get out"......­..Elvis

[foxistoofunny]

Because fox loves repubs too much baby.

[Kateyras]

Lyin' crock

[rich misty]

Conservatism is a criminal ideology that knows no limits, and no shame.

[takeyourballandgohome]

No, he's one of your own...you'­ll all skip over it and talk about Obama's birth certificate or something of equal importance to our Nation. Fox just does not have the intelligence to go much beyond the simple guests, like their own Rove, Morris, blahblah. Compare Rachel's guests, their responses and her followups.­...sometim­es we get a glimpse of Hannity on screen when his guest is answering his scripted question and he is reading the next one...cann­ot even respond the an answer unless it is an interruption about something he is hell bent on repeating, like Ayers association or old hash. Just doesn't have the grey matter.

[demrepub]

Fox News did this or did not do that. What a joke. They had the letter the day before the news conference. One freaking day. If they had disclosed it that day without doing an investigation what would we know now that we don't already know? Nutr00ts get a grip. This is a nonstory.

You want a real story to discuss I suggest a discussion on our exponentially growing budget deficits which the CBO says we will not be able to pay.

[foxistoofunny]

change the tax code, make rush pay more in taxes.

[sjones66]

your "point" has already been rebutted several times in the comments.

Fox has never shied away from reporting without sources, or reporting before getting the other side's POV, so your point is lost.

Of course they had the story, and of course they tipped Ensign off. Ensign's own people admitted that a news channel had the story and that they heard about it from them. What other news channel had the story and sat on it?

and exactly how long do you think it takes for a propaganda machine to gather "evidence" anyway?

where is the evidence that Obama is a muslim? fox reports that every night.

[foxistoofunny]

change the tax code, make all the millions of fox viewers pay more in taxes. It is the #1 cable network, correct?

[Tom Payned]

Sadly, the majority of FAUX viewers, are lower middle class or blue collar works, and part timers who can't get full time jobs due to the economy and businesses strategies that find part time employees are more likely to fall in line, they don't get paid holidays, paid overtime, or health care.

These are the very people who cannot pay anymore in taxes, and under Obama will actually see their tax bills drop, (i.e. Joe the plumber) but vote against their best interests.

They're also people who may get the most benefit from competition between a private for profit model and a public health plan, which people with health care can opt to purchase.

We should tax all of the CEO's and boards of companies that lost money yet rewarded their upper management­,directly, at a higher rate such as 40-50 % with no allowable deduction.

[rich misty]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x164225

Quit wasting your fingers neocon... We know what Fox is all about too ;)

[timetorevolt]

The had only one day because the called Ensign and told him to cover his @$$$$and he did the next day.. You still don't get because Faux news has fried your brain...bu­t you didn't have much to begin with.

[ObamacratInCA]

This guy was a true believer. He actually thought FOX had integrity. Now he's been betrayed. Over time, more FOX viewers will feel similarly betrayed and FOX will be the undoing of FOX.

[demrepub]

The message is clear to Republicans and Democrats alike, if you're married, keeped it zipped until you get home. Bill Clinton, John Edwards, David Vitter, Eliot Spitzer, John Ensign, and on and on and on have all created problems for themselves because of lack of discipline. All this other stuff is just white noise.

[sjones66]

But Democrats aren't failing their campaign promises when they do so. Republicans run as "family values" party -- this is their largest promise to the ameircan people.

quite a difference, eh? they promise to restore dignity and respect to the ameircan family.

vitter...c­raig...ens­ign...mcca­in....pali­n....

not so much.

[foxistoofunny]

All this other stuff is just white noise.....­nope it's fox noise par for the course.

[rich misty]

But only Republicans run as Compassionate Serial Rape Kiddie Torture Porn Family Values candidates.

[rich misty]

At least we know for sure what "Promise Keepers" is all about finally.

[EDHvoice]

The Fox denial is a half truth or pregnant denial. They only denied that the editors tipped off Senator Ensign. They did not deny that other people at Fox tipped him off. I bet that Fox employees tipped Ensign's people off.

[liberalOrgonian]

If the Senator was a democrat, I am sure Fox would have run with it.
But because this sleazy guy was repub, it was kept quiet.
The senator needs to follow his own advice and resign now.
He has some domestic problems to attend.

I heard he was being blackmailed. Then changed his story. What is the the real story?
As an American woman, I am left disgusted by this kind of behavior.
Guys like this should be thrown out of public office.
There has been enough deceit within our government.

[foxistoofunny]

Where did Megan Kelly obtain her journalism degree? How about that intellect Steve Doocy? Just curious.

[Ferrante Photo]

Megyn Kelly has a political science degree from Syracuse University & A J.D. from Albany Law School. Steve Doocy has a journalism degree from the University of Kansas @ Lawrence.
Affirmative action-No doubt LOL