Page 100 - Severance News Today

Real quickly, rachel, mike ensign is a very, very private person. even when he was the head of a major gaming company, he did not like public attention. he wasnt thrilled that his son was in public office. he has to be mortified by all of this. but lets be clear what that report says. that report has multiple witnesses inside john ensigns office saying john ensign described it himself as, quote, severance. that is devastating to what ensign has said previously, what his attorneys have said. and,...

Hamptons, he was very careful not to describe it as severance, but it looked like it was severance, and could violate those sec rules. >> thank you so much. breaking political news, wisconsin senator herb cole is expected to announce he will not seek re-election in 2012. kohl is planning a news conference at noon eastern time pop this has the potential to impact whether the democrats hold onto the already slim majority in the senate. and the uproar continues this morning after the ceos of th...

>> let me ask you about the issue of the senators father. senator ensigns father is a wealthy man, a prominent man in nevada. and this $96,000 payment from the senators parents, they said it wasnt severance. it was just a gift. part of a pattern of generosity of lots of gifts that senator ensigns parents had given the hamptons. they cited a big trip to hawaii, for example, that senator ensigns parents paid for for the hamptons. now, ensigns parents say the statements they signed were lies. did s...

Its actually a mandate to refer possible criminal or civil violations to the department of justice and to the federal election commission, and that is what we have done today. >> melanie, one of the surprising things in what the ethics committee reported today is that there are no surprises, that the story actually unfolds once fully investigated exactly the way it seemed to, as these facts were coming out in dribs and drabs in press reports. >> thats exactly right. the one thing that had never ...

That it was $96,000 in severance. the evidence amassed by this special counsel -- and we should say what an amazing job she did. but thats the lesser part of this, rachel. what is the department of justice doing? there is a mountain of evidence against johnç ensign in that special counsels report. clearly obstructing justice, by shredding documents, go to gmail instead of his senate account, trying to ward the d.o.j. off of the scent. and doug hampton is indicted, and ensign is informed by the...

That it was $96,000 in severance. the evidence amassed by this special counsel -- and we should say what an amazing job she did. but thats the lesser part of this, rachel. what is the department of justice doing? there is a mountain of evidence against john ensign in that special counsels report. clearly obstructing justice, by shredding documents, go to gmail instead of his senate account, trying to ward the d.o.j. off of the scent. and doug hampton is indicted, and ensign is informed by the de...

Real quickly, rachel, mike ensign is a very, very private person. even when he was the head of a major gaming company, he did not like public attention. he wasnt thrilled that his son was in public office. he has to be mortified by all of this. but lets be clear what that report says. that report has multiple witnesses inside john ensigns office saying john ensign described it himself as, quote, severance. that is devastating to what ensign has said previously, what his attorneys have said. and,...

Ensign is a very, very private person. even when he was the head of a major gaming company, he did not like public attention. he wasnt thrilled that his son was in public office. he has to be mortified by all of this. but lets be clear what that report says. that report has multiple witnesses inside john ensigns office saying john ensign described it himself as, quote, severance. that is devastating to what ensign has said previously, what his attorneys have said. and, yes, what he had his paren...

Would no longer be a focus of their investigation. more critically, the first thing that may happen is the federal election commission may act. the damming information about ensign potentially breaking election commission laws by paying severance to this man and woman who he fired after the affair, that is some of the most detailed and damming information here. he may have implicated his own parents in having made false statements in signed legal depositions that the ethics commission, the speci...

To the hamptons was a, quote, gift. theres a section of the report that as several of his staff members that ensign referred to it as severance. theres a serious disclosure issue there and doug hampton has always alleged that was severance for his and his wife. theres very serious charges here, violations that carry prison time. >> now, of course, this is a recommendation by the senate that the justice department look into this. steve, i want to turn to how this all got started for those who don...