It was New Year's Eve 2009 and Republican Senator John Ensign seemed destined for political glory, maybe even a shot at the presidency. And why not? All the stars were aligning for the brash, handsome Republican superstar from Nevada. All except for one. My producer Gary Daughters and I had information that Ensign may have helped his best friend get a lobbying gig to shut him up. It didn't take long to find out why.
Ensign had slept with his best friend's wife. I asked him about it. In fact, I peppered him with questions. His lack of a response and his combativeness for my even asking spoke volumes.
Doug Hampton, Ensign's best friend and chief of staff, was hurting. Hurting a lot. Wouldn't you be too if you caught your boss and best friend having an affair with your wife?
When we reached out to Ensign's office, the last thing I expected was that he would grant me an interview. He had to know what I knew, right? After all, it wasn't like we picked up the story from the National Enquirer. It had already been picked up by the New York Times and the Washington Post. But nobody had asked Ensign about it fully and directly.
It was a holiday. Usually, those are slow news days. Maybe that's why Ensign agreed to do the interview. Or maybe he thought I wouldn't bring up such an embarrassing topic, even though he was the senator who did everything he could to impeach Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky affair. Yes, that left him wide open. But that's not why I chose to confront him about his peccadillo fully and directly.
"Aggressively" is how the interview was described in countless stories. I confronted him because I knew that he was the subject of both an ethical and legal investigation. The interview went viral overnight.
As I told Ensign, "there is a law that says that someone who is an aide for a senator like yourself has to wait one year before they start lobbying." It's a law that Ensign should have been certainly aware of.
I gave him the opportunity to clear the air and set the record straight. His response? "That's his problem [Hampton's], that's not my problem... All that stuff will take care of itself over time... "
That "stuff" included Ensign allegedly arranging meetings for Hampton to get lobbying jobs. That "stuff" is what the law was meant to prevent.
When Ensign said, "that's not my problem," he clearly wasn't thinking -- just like he wasn't thinking when he slept with Hampton's wife and attempted to appease him by getting him lobbying jobs.
So who's problem is it senator? You want to try that answer again, because yesterday you resigned, and the Senate Ethics Committee, which includes many Republicans, chose to continue its investigation. They aren't doing that because you had a moral indiscretion. We all make mistakes. They are continuing to investigate you because of exactly what I asked you about: "public malfeasance." The problem is whether the public can trust that you and other elected officials won't use your lofty positions to cover your sins.
When you disconnected from reality during our interview and said that this was "his" problem, Senator Ensign, at that moment, you became America's problem.
Luckily, your resignation solves that. And it shows you finally realized what you should have known two years ago: This isn't someone else's problem. This is clearly your problem.
Follow Rick Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RickSanchezTV
I can't stand that lady on your seat now. I don't even watch again. Hope CNN will reconsider and bring you back. Everyone makes mistakes.
Who's = who is. Always.
Whose = the possessive.
Please learn the difference.
Rant over.
His room mates knew of the affair and "prayed" about it.....
So is Mark (hiking the Appalachia Trail) Sanford, Chip Pickerring,Grassley, Inhof, Graham, Demint and a bunch of religious zealots serving in Congress or who have served in the past.
It is disturbing, for sure...that so many of our elected leaders are in the clutches of this "church" with its secrets and lies.....
Not hurting enough to take the money?
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_17911170
In addition, if crimes were committed, the entire matter, including all evidence can be turned over to the Justice Department and he could be indicted/arrested and charged.....and tried.
The corporate fascism that's crawling across America is where journalists could earn their bones!
A great Republic is not great because of the might of its military nor its vast material wealth, it is great because of the character of its people.
The hypocrisy, and the "above the law" actions of rich white men (corrupt republicans) as seen in his participation of Clinton's impeachment, exemplifies that true family values do not exist in the republican lexicon or: Don't do what I do, Do what I say, exemplifies this mass movement of evoking God's name to indulge oneself in sex, money and scandal.
Newt Gingridge was on the committee to impeach Clinton when he began having an extra-marital affair, during which time he delivered divorce papers to his wife who was sick in the hospital.
Ensign should have resigned two years ago and he knows it. His actions are by default. He destroyed Doug Hampton's life. It's time Ensign paid the piper. But we all know that corrupt republicans never do. Instead, he will likely be hired by FOX NON-NEWS NETWORK and make tons of money attoning for his sins in front of millions of viewers.