The Justice Department subpoenaed at least six Las Vegas businesses in connection with a probe of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who helped a former staffer secure a lobbying job after having an affair with the staffer’s wife.
Sen. John Ensign (gov)
A lawyer from the department’s Public Integrity Section and an FBI agent issued grand jury subpoenas earlier this month to unnamed businesses that had dealings with the senator and his staff since 2008. According to the Las Vegas television station KLAS, federal investigators are trying to determine whether Ensign pressured the businesses to hire former staffer Doug Hampton, and whether the senator offered anything in return.
The FBI and Senate Ethics Committee are looking into whether Ensign tried to curb political damage to himself by helping Hampton find a new job as a lobbyist. Federal law prohibits congressional aides from lobbying their ex-bosses or colleagues for one year after leaving Congress.
Federal prosecutors are presenting evidence to a grand jury in the District. One of the subpoenas, obtained by KLAS, ordered recipients to testify on March 31 and to produce documents related to Ensign, his staff, Hampton and his wife Cindy (with whom Ensign had the affair), and the lobbying firm that hired Doug Hampton.
If Ensign were indicted, it would mark the second prosecution of a sitting senator since 2008, when Republican Ted Stevens was tried for omitting gifts from his financial disclosure forms. Stevens was convicted, but the case was dismissed after the department determined prosecutors improperly withheld evidence from Stevens’ defense team.
According to the subpoena, Public Integrity trial lawyer Deborah Sue Mayer and FBI Special Agent Frank D’Amico are working the Ensign investigation.
UPDATE: The Associated Press reported Thursday afternoon that the grand jury also issued a subpoena to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in connection with the Ensign probe. The NRSC is a political committee that raises money and recruits candidates in an effort to help elect Republicans to the Senate. Ensign was the chairman of the committee during the 2008 election cycle.
[...] government. Mayer, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, has also worked on the probe of Nevada Republican Sen. Jon Ensign. Plowell previously served as an Assistant U.S. [...]