Doug Hampton’s 15 minutes go national: “Nightline” transcript

Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 | 6:02 a.m.

Below is a transcript of Monday's "Nightline" interview with Doug Hampton, the former chief of staff to Sen. John Ensign who has accused his ex-boss of committing crimes after having an affair with Cindy Hampton:

Sot introduction of Ensign at 2008 RNC: "Ladies and gentleman, the Honorable John Ensign from Nevada (cheers)."

Track: John Ensign was a rising star in the Republican Party.

Nats RNC: "Are you as fired up as I am?"

Part way through his second term there were already rumblings that the junior Senator from Nevada might be the party's next best hope for President. …

nats ensign with GWB: "we have a clear decisive leader in George W. Bush!" cheers...

Track: With impeccable conservative credentials.....But suddenly, this past June....

CHYRON: June 16: Sot from press conference on the affair: "Last year I had an affair."

Track: ...a stunning announcement:

From press conference: "It's absolutely the worst thing I've ever done in my life."

Track: Confession made, Ensign took no questions. But almost immediately - questions were raised.

Snapshot effect: pic of cindy with ensign

Track: …Because it turned out the affair was with this woman - Cindy Hampton. His campaign treasurer. The wife of his closest friend and one of his top Senate aides, Doug Hampton.

CM: it's been said you were close as brothers

DH: Sure.

nats CM and Hampton walking: "right over here to the left is the Ensign's neighborhood, and ours is right over my right shoulder..."

Now Doug Hampton has emerged for his first network television interview, to tell his side of the story. Allegations of hypocrisy and hubris…cover-ups and maybe even crimes... that have destroyed lives and could yet destroy John Ensign's political career.

DH: It's hard to comprehend what's still taking place, what's going on this moment, with regards to the unraveling of the choices and the decisions that John's made.

CM: You've lost your job.

DH: Lost my job.

CM: Lost your best friend.

DH: Lost my best friend.

CM: Have nearly lost your wife.

DH: Nearly lost my wife.

It was a twenty year old friendship...

Snapshot effect: two families together

Here they are on vacation together.....so close they'd become family. The couple lived yards away from one another in this suburb of Las Vegas. They prayed here at the Meadows Fellowship Church. People of intense faith.

(beauty shot of capitol)

And in 2006, Ensign asked his friend Doug Hampton to come to Washington and serve as his a co-chief of staff. Despite his utter lack of political experience, Hampton says Ensign wanted him there as he walked the corridors of power - a brother in Christ who would keep him grounded.

DH: walk alongside in whatever capacity possible. Same kind of model that Jesus exhibited in the Bible//

CM: A dream come true?

DH: Yeah. I mean, I floated.

Track: But during Christmas 2007 the dream turned into a nightmare when Doug intercepted a text message Ensign had sent to Cindy.

CM: And what does it say?

DH: How wonderful it is. Can't believe it's like a kid. Scared but excited.

CM: Do you know instantly?

DH: Oh I-I have a little out of body experience. I confront John, I think he genuinely believes I'm going to knock him out. John is panicked he doesn't know what to do. He's like a kid, he's just scrambling. Cindy is speechless. She's absolutely in shock.

Track: According to Hampton - on Christmas Eve there was a confrontation at the Ensign home with both couples and all their children present.

DH: The kids know. We know. Ten of us meet at John and Darlene's and I say, now, what do you want to do, what are we going to do? Are we going to destroy each others' lives, is this it? What is this? Oh gosh, no, no, no, this is just the biggest mistake we've ever made. We do not want this. John cries like a kid. Puts his head in his hands, cries like a little boy.

CM: Remorse. You hear remorse?

DH: Yeah. Panic.

Track: Both couples tried to work it out. But by February Hampton believed that Ensign and his wife were still having an affair.

CM: He's still sleeping with your wife, you think?

DH: Yeah, that's hard to hear. Yeah, I think he's absolutely at this time pursuing her. He's absolutely fixated on Cindy.

Track: Hampton says his suspicions were confirmed when he accompanied his boss on a Congressional trip to Iraq.

I was not a person that he wanted to see anymore on a daily basis.

CM: You subsequently discovered that he was calling your wife morning and night from Iraq?

DH: I was having problems with my phone, so I asked John, hey, can I use your phone, I want to call Cindy. He said, sure//-instead of scrolling to Cindy Hampton he scrolls to Aunt Judy. Like covert, cover-up, for Cindy Hampton. And then I realize, wow, wow, something is seriously wrong.

Track: Back in Washington, Doug Hampton says he turned to the one place he was sure could help him. A secretive Christian group known as "The Fellowship. " Ensign was living here---at what's known as the C Street House...run by the Fellowship... - a meeting place and residence for Evangelical lawmakers.

.

What's their first piece of advice to you?

DH: Be cool.

CM: Cover it up?

DH: No. No, not initially. No, we need help. We're not big enough. This is a United States Senator and so even though we're friends, we're close, we're brothers in Christ, we need power to confront this. Senator Tom Coburn, the hit man.

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is one the most influential conservative voices in the United States Senate and also a C Street resident. Hampton says on Valentine's Day, the C Street leadership and Senator Coburn helped him confront Senator Ensign.

DH: Tom really kind of takes the helm. Oh he's smoking. He is one upset man. And then John kind of breaks down. I made a mistake, I really screwed up.

Track: Hampton provided us with this letter, which he says the group at C Street forced Ensign to write and Federal Express to Cindy, ending the relationship. "I used you for my own pleasure..." he wrote. "...God never intended for us to do this." But according to Hampton, within hours John Ensign called Cindy.

DH: I mean he is just livid. They made me write a letter but it's not how I feel. Doug has exposed me. As though somehow I'm the bad guy in this.

CM: So that weekend you actually see John Ensign and what does he tell you about his feelings for your wife?

DH: He's in love with her. I know what was said, and I'm not going to apologize for how I feel. Not only am I going to pursue the relationship, you can't work for me anymore. He almost said it like, you've made me uncomfortable.

CM: Is your wife in love with him?

No, she's..

CM: Did he take advantage of her?

Yeah, absolutely. He took advantage of his power and his position.

CM: That isn't just a loving husband talking?

DH: I can appreciate why a lot of people would think that. I do not think that she is blameless. I'm not saying that she wasn't struggling with her own feelings and her own attraction to John and her own demons.

Track: Cindy Hampton would not confirm or deny her husband's allegation that Ensign took advantage of her. But a watchdog group has asked the Senate to take a look at whether Ensign is guilty of sexual harassment -- a violation of congressional ethics rules because Cindy was working for Ensign at the time the affair began.

Melanie Sloan, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: Did Senator Ensign sexually harass Cynthia Hampton by conducting an affair with his employee and then did he violate sexual harassment law by firing Cynthia Hampton and her husband when the affair ended?

By April, 2008 --- Senator Ensign had indeed fired both Doug and Cindy Hampton. But not before what Doug Hampton sees as one final humiliation.

DH: He called me and said you need to come back here I need to throw you a party. If you don't come back here and let me throw you a party, people will suspect something.

CM: He gave you a going away party?

DH: Absolutely. And a gift. //

Track: Days later, the Hamptons received what Ensign now claims is another "gift"….this check for $96,000 made out to Doug, Cindy and two of their children. The check is from the Senator's father Mike Ensign….a billionaire casino mogul. A family spokesman, denying a payoff, called it part of a quote "pattern of generosity."…made "out of concern for the well-being of longtime family friends during a difficult time."

DH: Pattern of generosity? Oh hey listen we realize our son's having an affair with your wife, maybe some money will help. It's ridiculous!

CM: Is it crystal clear to you that that 96,000 dollars was in fact severance and not a gift?

DH: Crystal clear. I took notes. I've shared those notes. They're well documented. They were clearly what he deemed as severance.

That too's a lie. Cover up.

Track: The Ensign family says the gift complied with tax rules. But, if the check was indeed severance, Senator Ensign may have violated campaign finance laws by not revealing it.

Melanie Sloan/Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: You have to wonder how is it that the Senator's parents came in and paid his former mistress $96,000 as a gift out of the goodness of their hearts. That just really doesn't make sense. Of course it was a severance payment. The failure to report it may well be a felony punishable by 5 years in jail.

Track: Senator Ensign has said the check was not severance. But there's more. Having lost his 6 figure dream job, Hampton needed work. He says John Ensign called him offering him a new career: lobbying...John Ensign. Only one problem: That's illegal. Federal ethics laws prohibit former staffers from lobbying the Senate within a year of leaving. And it may be illegal for a Senator to help them do it.

CM: Is Senator Ensign himself lining up clients for you?

DH: Absolutely. Hey, I talked to so and so, call them. Hey, I talked to so and so, call them.

Melanie Sloan: That too is a felony. That's pretty serious for a senator to be allegedly involved in at least two felonies.

Track: Hampton claims once he had clients, Ensign instructed him to deal directly with his then-chief of staff. Hampton provided these e-mails which he says show that that's just what happened.

CM: So let me make sure I understand what you are saying. John Ensign was aware that he was helping and assisting you in breaking ethics rules.

Dh: John Ensign was perfectly aware that it was going down exactly how he wanted it to go.

CM: So there is no doubt in your mind that John Ensign understood that ethics laws were being broken.

DH: There is no doubt in my mind. This is a serious allegation you are making against a sitting United States senator, that he knowingly assisted you-

DH: Why would a client hire Doug Hampton if he didn't think he would have access to John Ensign's office? It's the only reason I would [laughing] hire him!

CM: You understand that what you're saying could make you criminally libel?

DH: It's the truth. And it's under duress. And it's under the power and abuse and orchestration of a Senator who controlled our lives.

Track: But Doug Hampton's career as a lobbyist only lasted a year before he was let go. Unemployed and financially strained, Hampton's lawyer sought 8 and a half million dollars in what he calls "restitution" from Ensign. An Ensign spokesperson suggested Hampton was trying to blackmail the Senator, claiming he made quote "exorbitant demands for cash."

DH: That's a powerful man twisting words to destroy me.//

CM: Did you ever try to extort John Ensign?

DH: Absolutely not. ..//

CM: Were you threatening him...you either pay me the eight and half million dollars or I'm gonna go public?

DH: Absolutely not.

Track: Hampton claims none other than Senator Tom Coburn personally initiated and took charge of the negotiations ...

Tom Coburn said " What I would do, Doug, if I was you, is I would have them buy your home, give you a million bucks so you can start over, and that is what I am willing to help you negotiate." He volunteered to help. He called me.

CM: And, what happened?

DH: John said: No can do, not going to happen

Track: In a statement to Nighltine Senator Coburn's spokesman says that Doug Hampton never attempted to blackmail John Ensign nor was John Ensign trying to pay Hampton hush money.

From This Week: STEPHANOPOULOS: Is he telling the truth?

COBURN: No

Track: Yesterday George Stephanopoulos asked Senator Coburn about what Hampton told us.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You did not serve as an intermediary?

COBURN: Oh, I did. No, there's no question. Look, my whole goal

in this thing was to bring two families to a closure of a very painful

episode. And there's no question that Doug called me and said, "Will

you talk to John about solving a problem?" And so I called John Ensign

and said, "Do you want me to talk to him?" He said, "Yes."

Track: In June, Hampton did try to go public...writing to Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly revealing the affair. Though Fox didn't go with the story, Ensign hastily called his press conference.

June 16 (end of presser): "I will not be taking any questions, thank you."

CM: So what should John Ensign do right now?

DH: Resign immediately.

Track: Doug Hampton is coming forward now because he sees no evidence these charges are being investigated

Melanie Sloan, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: This is Washington DC, and you never really know how things are gonna play out, and given the mess that the Justice Dept is and how the Senate Ethics Committee has almost never met a scandal it couldn't avoid taking action on. You really can't have any faith that Ensign will eventually pay.

CM: Has the Department of Justice contacted you at all?

DH: Not at all.

CM: The senate Ethics Committee contacted you?

Not at all.

CM: THE FBI?

Not at all.

CM: What conclusion do you draw from that?

Not really interested gettin' to the bottom of this. It's interesting- when you are campaigning boy you gotta talk about everything. When you are elected, you don't have to talk about anything.