The John Ensign scandal related to revelations in 2009 of an extramarital affair between United States Senator John Ensign from Nevada and campaign aide Cynthia Hampton from 2007 to 2008 and actions taken by Ensign to keep the affair secret. He was investigated for potential violations of federal rules about conflict of interest after he arranged for Doug Hampton, Cynthia's husband and formerly a top staffer in his Washington, D.C. office, to gain a private lobbying job and apparently used his federal position to benefit Hampton's clients.
Ensign resigned from the Senate in 2011 during a Senate Ethics Committee investigation and returned to Las Vegas, Nevada. The committee turned its report over to the Department of Justice for investigation of potential violation of laws. The DOJ found evidence of strong-arm tactics, but decided against prosecution of Ensign, according to internal federal documents released under a FOIA request in late 2014. Doug Hampton was prosecuted and reached a plea deal with the government in May 2012.
Affair
At the time of the affair, Cynthia Hampton worked for Ensign as treasurer of the Senate and Battle Born PAC (a conservative political action committee of which Ensign was the honorary chairman). She and her husband Douglas Hampton were close friends of Ensign and his wife; Doug worked as a top administrative aide in Senator Ensign's Capitol Hill office. When the affair was revealed by Doug Hampton in 2009, an Ensign spokesperson asserted that it had occurred between December 2007 and August 2008, but Hampton said that it began at Christmas 2006.
Neither of the Hamptons worked for Ensign after May 2008. Cynthia Hampton never spoke publicly about the affair. She testified to the Senate Ethics Committee in 2011 in its investigation.
Lobbying position for Douglas Hampton
In early 2008, Douglas Hampton confronted Ensign about the affair. Ensign contacted political and corporate supporters in Nevada, seeking work for Hampton. Within the next few months, Ensign arranged for Hampton to join a political consulting firm in Nevada and lined up several corporations who had been Ensign campaign donors as lobbying clients for Hampton. Under federal law senior aides such as Hampton are prohibited from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts. Hampton later said he and Ensign were aware of the lobbying restriction but chose to ignore it. Cynthia Hampton also lost her job with Ensign's PAC in May 2008.
In 2008, after Hampton began working for the political consulting firm, Ensign and his staff repeatedly contacted federal agencies, often after requests from Hampton, on behalf of the companies that were Hampton's clients. In a statement published on October 1, the date that The New York Times reported on Ensign's arrangements for Douglas Hampton, Ensign said: "I am confident we fully complied with the relevant laws and rules governing current and past employees. I have worked on these Nevada issues with these Nevada companies for years, long before Doug Hampton left my office."
Financial settlement
In April 2008, Ensign's parents gave Cynthia Hampton and her family $96,000. On July 9, 2009, when the payments were reported in the news, Ensign's lawyer, Paul Coggins, issued a statement on Ensign's behalf stating, "The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts." In late 2009, Doug Hampton disputed this interpretation, telling Nightline that it was "crystal clear" that the $96,000 was severance for him for leaving his job as staffer to Ensign and not a gift.
Public scandal
On June 11, 2009, Douglas Hampton sent a letter to Megyn Kelly, a Fox News reporter, in which he said, "The actions of Senator Ensign have ruined our lives and careers and left my family in shambles", and that "I need justice, help and restitution for what Senator Ensign has done to me and my family". The network said it did not receive a mailed letter, but got the letter as an e-mail attachment on June 15.
In a statement on June 16, 2009, Ensign admitted that he had the affair. That day Ensign's wife Darlene issued a statement that said, in part, "Since we found out last year we have worked through the situation and we have come to a reconciliation." On June 17, 2009, Ensign stepped down from his post as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking spot in the Republican Party's leadership.