Ensign Says He'll Resign, But Maintains Innocence

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) announced late Thursday that he will resign from the Senate. His official resignation is expected to occur on May 3.

In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden, posted on the Senator’s website, Ensign said that he struggled mightily with the decision to step down.

“It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years. The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada.  I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life.”

For nearly two years, FBI and Senate Ethics Committee investigators have examined whether Ensign violated Senate ethics rules during the aftermath of an affair he had with the wife of a former top aide. Ensign, 53, is married and has three children.

In his statement, Ensign defended himself against allegations that his parents paid the former aide, Douglas Hampton, to keep quiet about the affair. Authorities are also looking into whether Ensign knowingly allowed Hampton to contact his Senate office shortly after Hampton began working as a lobbyist in Nevada.

Federal law prohibits former staffers from lobbying on Capitol Hill for one year.

“While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings,” Ensign said. “For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.”

It is believed that Ensign was aware that more details of his case were about to be made public, and decided to pull the plug on his Senate career rather than suffer through an embarassing trial.

In a joint statement released Thursday evening, Senate Ethics Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Vice Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said that Ensign had made the “appropriate decision.”

The New York Times has more on the story…

This story was updated at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 22