The Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston has an explosive interview with Doug Hampton, the husband of Sen. John Ensign's former mistress and a former top staffer for the senator. A human face on the other side of this scandal, coupled with information about payments from Ensign to Cindy and Doug Hampton, who were both subordinates of the senator, could open up a new level of scrutiny and vulnerability for Ensign.

The first portion of the interview reveals that the affair began in 2007, when the Hamptons' home was burglarized. Rather than remaining in their own house, Doug and Cindy Hampton stayed at the Ensigns,' whom Hampton describes as "family." Doug Hampton said he discovered the affair when he picked up his wife's phone with a text message from Ensign. "It dealt with the fact that they enjoyed being together."

Here is part one of the interview...




In part two, Hampton said he confronted Ensign in front of U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and other members of "C Street," a Christian fellowship in Washington. "He (Ensign) wanted a relationship with Cindy."




In the third segment, Hampton says that the men from C Street wanted to raise money to pay off the Hamptons' home and move them to Colorado "to take care of this." Ralston presses Hampton on whether he ever asked for money. At first Hampton says he never personally asked for money, but later allows that his attorney eventually sought millions from Ensign.





In the final segment, Ralston shows the handwritten letter from Ensign to Cindy Hampton saying that God wants the Ensigns to repair their marriage and the Hamptons to repair theirs. Hampton says that Ensign and his wife were together again within 24 hours, and that Ensign eventually told him, "Doug, I'm in love with your wife."

Get the new
PD toolbar!


Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter,
and download the new Politics Daily toolbar!