DOJ could reopen Ensign investigation

The Justice Department will likely renew its investigation of former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) in light of the more than 1,000 emails the Senate Ethics Committee received at the tail end of its investigation, according to Reuters.

The emails detail a series of highly sensitive exchanges between Ensign, his lawyers and top-level advisers, according to the news report, and breathe new life into the Senate Ethics investigation, which had reached a relative standstill after a year and a half.
  

Lawyers with close knowledge of the case told Reuters, which reviewed several of the Ensign emails, that the cache of correspondence is “almost certain” to spur DOJ to reopen its criminal investigation of the former lawmaker.

Justice had formerly investigated allegations brought against Ensign that he had tried to pay off a former staff member and his wife, who had been having an affair with the then-senator, to try and keep them both quiet.

In December, Ensign’s lawyers announced that DOJ had concluded its investigation and had declined to prosecute him. Ensign’s lawyers said the former senator did not conduct himself appropriately, but they maintained his legal innocence.

It remains unclear what effect the damning and detailed 75-page Senate Ethics report, completed by special counsel Carol Elder Bruce, will have on the department’s move to reopen the case.

Ensign, under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, resigned his seat in April. In May, the committee issued a report stating that Ensign might have broken the law through false statements, potential obstruction of justice and conspiracy to assist an aide in breaking the law.

---