we can build new power we can they had power in john ends and what really comes down the senate ethics committee report. is that they took every step to preserve that pattern even as they saw as you say because he was committing acts that come off with claims he was a senate ethics committee and sends a stroke and you know this is breaking laws breaking very serious lobbying rules they were protecting their power and they were doing it because the. remarkable jeff thank you. thanks good to see you here in the case of senator ensign we learn how far a man of power is willing to go to make sure he gets the woman he wants using his power and lots of money he made a mistake his mistress to keep her quiet saying that her job hung in the balance if she didn't see him and was the affair was out he again used his money and power to keep her from going public before eventually firing both his mistress and her husband which she was no longer sleeping with similarly there are more allegations coming out against the i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn french journalist has now come forward saying that strau

that's just one choice line from today's senate's ethics committee report on john enson. back to geico radio, it's savings, on the radio. gecko: hello clarence from stevens point. clarence: ok, you know the grapes at the grocery store? clarence: well, sometimes you ry one. take it for a test drive, see how ittastes. clarence: well, my wife says that's stealing. i say it's sampling. what do you think? gecko: yeah, um, listen larence, i can't really speak to the moral bit, but if you switch to geico, you could save hundreds of dollars on your car insurance. you could buy a whole heap of "grapes. how's that? vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. helping strengthen our bones. caltrate delivers 1200 milligrams of calcium and 800 iu of vitamin d plus minerals. women need caltrate. caltrate helps women keep moving because women move the world. is turning 100 soon, an achievement worthy of celebration. and thanks to sprint's unlimited plan, you can call or text her number or e-mail her address for no extra cost. so congratulate her. sing to her. and t

senate rules, those give the ethics committee responsibility to investigate alleged violations of laws and rules and -- quote -- "improper conduct which may reflect upon the senate." that's a quote from our rules. finally, ethics committee rules make clear that whenever its members have -- quote -- "reason to believe," unquote, that a violation of law has occurred, we -- quote --"shall," unquote report it to the proper authorities. ethic committee rules make it clear that whenever the members of committee have reason to believe that a violation of law has occurred, we shall report it to the proper authorities. so we have a solemn responsibility, indeed. it's 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. we also have another responsibility, and that's to tell the american people when we believe laws and rules have been broken and that standards of conduct have been breached, and that is what we have done today. our special counsel, carole elder bruce, has written

president, yesterday the senate ethics committee voted unanimously to release the special counsel's root port regarding the'seg actions of for senator, john ensign. to the committee also voted unanimously to refer several thd findings to the department of justice into the federal election committee.eve that for election commission becauses he had reason to believe that senator ensign violated laws within their jurisdictions. i want to say from the bottom os my heart, the senators wholoor participate in this investigation, many whom are in the floor today.y. my vice chairman, the extraordinary theater, senator isakson. and when i say later, i need a a leader on the committee and i consider him to really be a cochair with me. and senator robert who has been on this committee a long time, and a who has a sense of history and a sense of levity, pragmatism and cooperation. to i want to note the participatioc of chair brown, who came on this committee and began this journey with us in this very importantsr contribution. vy senator british who brought with them a various small vehicle ano i wen

except for comply exactly with what the ethics laws and ethics rules of the senate state. >> reporter: now not only does the senate ethics committee senate rules, the report is a stunning narrative detailing exactly how. the backdrop, extramarital affair with cynthia hampton, a longtime friend and employee and wife of doug hampton, friend, golfing partner, eventually aide in his senate office. the ethics report tells of ensign buying cell phones and using alias e-mails to hide the relationship. telling cynthia hampton he wanted to marry her during this national prayer breakfast. and after they got caught and the affair continued the man ensign called his spiritual adviser tracked him down saying i know exactly where you are and i know exactly what you are doing. put your pants on and go home. torrid details are embarrassing. allegations of criminal behavior that followed are damning. breaking lobbying laws that helped the husband get lobbying jobs, again, ensign in 2009. >> we each complied with all of the ethics. remember just like -- you know, we -- senators who -- they have two year. doesn't mean you don't -- >> reporter: the r

. >>> he was supposed to testify before the senate ethics committee. up next, why a long-term senator had to resign and give up that job. last week, big weddings, and today another big event for prince charles who he is scheduled to meet while on a trip to the u.s. that's coming straight up on "good morning maryland." we are back in a bit. your favorites, in pieces. moms love tulips. any second now, they are going to place me at the center of the table. edible arrangements bouquets beautiful like flowers, but unforgettably delicious, any second now... visit, call or go to ediblearrangements.com >>> a few minutes before 6. five things to know before heading out the door. today senate select committee on intelligence chairperson diane feinstein will talk about the operation resulting in death of osama bin laden. >>> today the governor of alabama makes a televised address to the state. aides says he will discuss the destruction caused by the tornadoes and the state's response to it. today, a nevada lawmakers will resign after aid admismitting to an affair

president yesterday the senate ethics committee votede e unanimously to release a special counsel's report regarding the actions of former senator john ensign. the committee also votedy unanimously to refer several findings to the department of te justice and to the federal election committee. h because we had reason to believe that senator ensign violated laws within their jurisdiction. i want to tank up from the bottom of my heart, the senators who senators who participated in this investigation, many of whom are on theve floor today. my vice chairman, thetrao extraordinary leader, senator isakson, and i say peter, i mean a leader on the committee and ia consider him to really be a cochair with me. robts and senator roberts, who has been on this committee a long time who heads the sense of history and a sense of levity, pragmatism and i've reallyty appreciated his cooperation.iad i want to note the participation of shared ground, who came on this committee and began this journey with us and his very important contribution. r senator risch who brought with him ane very strong legal slants

the senate ethics committee today referred his case to federal prosecutors. ensign, a republican from nevada, is suspected of making false statements to the federal election commission. all of this stems from an affair he had with his campaign treasurer, who's also the wife of his former chief of staff. here in new york, police say they've broke up a home-grown terror plot. two men were charged today with planning to blow up a synagogue. the police say the accused were heard on tape complaining that the world treats muslims "like dogs." one was arrested yesterday just after he allegedly bought guns and a fake hand grenade from an undercover officer. neither suspect is believed to have any ties to al qaeda. actress mary tyler moore has gone into the hospital to have a tumor near her brain removed. this is moore with former costar dick van dyke on the "rachel ray show" taped last week. a spokesperson says doctors have been keeping an eye on the noncancerous tumor in the lining of her brain and decided it was best to remove it. mary tyler moore is 74. and we wan

the senator has been under investigation by the senate ethics committee over whether he violated senate rules with an affair with a former campaign aide. her husband was the deputy chief of staff during most of the extra marital relationship. the resignation was effective may 3. his remarks are about 12 minutes. >> mr. president, i rise today to deliver a very difficult speech, which will be my farewell speech to the united states senate. serving as the 24 united states senator has to be been the greatest professional privilege of my life. growing up with a single mom and very humble surroundings, i simply never imagined that one day, i would end up as a member of such an agusta body as this. unfortunately, the experiences that stem from a more than 10 years of my senate service cannot be summed up in one single speech. i owe a humble thank you to many people who helped to get me here and who have served me effectively. from campaign volunteers, staff, and donors, to some of the best people whom i've ever worked with, my senate staff. i cannot think you enough for honor of the past many

the senate ethics committee made the referral today, nine days after ensign resigned his seat. committee charged the republican obstructed its investigation, and made false statements to the federal elections commission. the probe stems from ensign's affair with the wife of a top aide and payments to her family. the obama administration laid out a plan to beef up u.s. cybersecurity efforts. it called for a new law that would mandate better protection for the electrical grid, nuclear power plants and financial systems. just last month, authorities exposed a hacking ring that broke into more than two million computers worldwide stealing more than $100 million. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: the latest effort by congress to target the oil industry over taxes and profits is hardly the first. but as we heard earlier, this time the legislation is tied directly to the debate over debt and deficits. it would limit tax breaks for oil production and modify other rules that companies use to lower their tax bills. all told, it would bring $21 bil

the senator has been under investigation by the senate ethics committee over whether he violated senate rules with an affair with a former campaign aide. her husband was the deputy chief of staff during most of the extra marital relationship. the resignation was effective may 3. his remarks are about 12 minutes. objection. mr. ensign: mr. president, i rise today to deliver a very difficult speech. this will be my farewell speech to the united states senate. serving as nevada's 24th united states senator has truly been the greatest professional privilege of my life. growing up with a single mom and very humble surroundings, i simply never imagined that one day i would end up as a member of such an august body as this. unfortunately the experiences that extend from the more than 10 years of my senate service cannot be summed up in one single speech. i owe a humble thank you to many people who helped to get me here and served me effectively. from campaign volunteers, staff, donors, to some of the best people i have ever worked with, my senate staff. i cannot thank you enough for the honor

a low that, the senate ethics committee announced an inquiry into john ensign's extramarital affair.he report came out last week. below that, mark sanford, and also larry craig featured in this rundown of recent political sex scandals. we will go to massachusetts, bob, a democrat as well. does this impact your vote in should it? caller: it will lend it should, especially when the person who has transgressed in any way has made a career of talking against these particular transgressions. the defense of marriage and what marriage are they talking about? the first, the second, the third, the fourth? someone who is anti-gay and makes a big to do of it, and number one campaign issue, and it turns out they have a boyfriend on the side. it goes on and on. it seems that in a lasting years these people that are caught morally transgressing are the ones who are making a career and causing a lot of pain to whatever it is that they are campaigning against. i also feel that -- and this is just a hair -- with regard to all of these budget cuts. i think people had better start thinking. one of the

the senate ethics committee reading the report by barbara boxer and one of our viewers saying how bad will tom coburn get splashed on the bribery advice he given senator ensign? i don't know, it was bribery or counsel as a deacon? this is a sad situation in terms you have senator ensign who like quicksand has sucked in all of his friends who were maybe trying to give him friendly advice and get him to improve his behavior so this is playing out rather dramatically. it's very sad. this isn't something that is republican or democrat. we see it with john edwards and talk about the drama there. it's one thing when it happens, when you have one bad actor but when people who are just trying to be their friends get dragged into it, you know, some of it does splash on them. i don't think this will be fatal for senator coburn at all. but it's awkward for him for a while. speaking of values and virtues, former house speaker, john boehner, speaking at university yesterday at a commencement speech that we covered here at c-span. here's speaker boehner. >> one of the students me a prepared questio

a low that, the senate ethics committee announced an inquiry into john ensign's extramarital affair. the report came out last week. below that, mark sanford, and also larry craig featured in this rundown of recent political sex scandals. we will go to massachusetts, bob, a democrat as well. does this impact your vote in should it? caller: it will lend it should, especially when the person who has transgressed in any way has made a career of talking against these particular transgressions. the defense of marriage and what marriage are they talking about? the first, the second, the third, the fourth? someone who is anti-gay and makes a big to do of it, and number one campaign issue, and it turns out they have a boyfriend on the side. it goes on and on. it seems that in a lasting years these people that are caught morally transgressing are the ones who are making a career and causing a lot of pain to whatever it is that they are campaigning against. i also feel that -- and this is just a hair -- with regard to all of these budget cuts. i think people had better start thinking. one of th

. >> a few weeks ago senator ensign was forced to resign. the ethics committeet has your name in it. you tried to convince center and san to stop the affair and ultimately, it discusses the question whether you were an intermediary or working on the question of how to get mr. hampton out and if there would be compensation. >> that is totally inaccurate. i got a phone call one day from hampton. the story you hear is not an accurate reflection of what happened. >> the group known as a crew has filed an ethics complaint against you. have they contacted you? >> i have testified before the committee and i have no worries. what i did is what i would do be the same again. we put two families back together with multiple children and both marriages are stable right now. i am proud of what i did and the way i did it. there's nothing on what we did. the stories are just stories to be able to try to take away from what the real problems of our country are. i have no problems with what i did or how i did it. >> we are out of time but thank you for being here. [captioning per

. >> the senator was forced to resign. the ethics committee report says how you try to convince the senator to stop the affair. ultimately it discusses whether or not you were an intermediary or working on the question of how to get mr. hampton out. >> it was totally not the characterization of what happened. i said of caldwell if he wanted me to. the story you hear is not an accurate reflection of what happened. >> this group known as crew -- as the committee contacted you about them? >> what i did i would do exactly the same way again. we put two families back together with multiple children. both marriages are stable right now. i am proud of what i did and the way i did it. there is nothing unethical about what we did. >> you can see the entire interview on newsmakers sunday at 10:00 a.m. at 6:00 p.m. on c- span. it is also available online at c-span.org. >> on thursday, the supreme court ruled that arizona and other states can revoke the business licenses of companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. the decision upholds the legal a

senator. >> he was forced to resign. the ethics committee report has, you name it, stop the affair.ses whether you are an inch -- intermediary of how to get mr. hampton out. >> that is totally inaccurate. i got a phone call wednesday from hampton asking me to communicating a message to john. i said i did not know. i called john and left a message. the story you hear is not accurate. >> this group known as crew has filed an ethics complaint. have you been contacted? >> i have testified before the committee. i have no worries. i would do what i did again. we put to families back together with multiple children. those marriages are stable right now. i am proud of what i did and the way i did it. >> you can see the entire interview with the senator on the "newsmakers." 10:00 a.m. on c-span. it is also available online at c-span.org. on thursday, the supreme court ruled 5-3 that arizona and other states can revoke the business licence of the companies that hire illegal immigrants. the decision upholds the legal arizona workers act of 2007 and gives more authority to states to act against

important news from the senate yesterday on the ethics investigation in now resigned senator john ensign. we will listen to senator boxer who is the chair of the ethics committee. >> we depolesed or -- deposed or interviewed 72 witnesses. we issued 32 subpoenas for documents. we reviewed more than a half million documents including a large number that were initially withheld from the committee. host: here are the stories in the hometown papers. ethics panel says ensign violated law. case returns to justice departme department. from the las vegas review journal he faces more trouble. he violated laws suggesting prosecution. the senate panel said they would have reamed ex-us -- recommended ex-puplgs if he were still a sitting senator. last time that occurred was 1862. we are looking for your qualities for a 2012 presidential candidate. let's hear from hollywood, florida. this is reed who is a democrat. are you there? i'm sorry, we will move on. we will go to don, independent in spring, texas. caller: i think somebody is being just halfway honest with the american public in dealing with foreign countries and our so-called free trade that might, you know, just giv

. >> senator ensign was forced to resign. your ethics committee report has your name on it, how you tried to convince senator ensin to stop the affair and ultimately discussed the question as to whether or not you were an intermediary or working on the question of how to get mr. hampton out and whether there would be compensation. >> that's a totally inaccurate characterization of what happened. i got a phone call one day from hampton and he said would you communicate a message to john and i said, i don't know, i'll ask him if you want him to and i called john and he said yeah so the story you hear is not an accurate reflection of what happened. >> the group known as crew has filed an ethics complaint against you. has the committee contacted you before it yet? >> i testified before the committee. i have no worries. what i did i would do exactly the same way again. we put two families back together with multiple children and both marriages are stable right now and i am proud of what i did and the way i did it and there's nothing unethical in what w

ethical standards in order to enrich himself and his law partners. but, first, let me just say that mr. mcconnell when he came before the senate judiciary committee intentionally misled the committee during the confirmation process. i don't know how i can say it any more gently, the fact is, he lied to the senate judiciary committee during his confirmation process. and regardless of who nominates an individual, party affiliation aside, i don't think the senate as an institution should tolerate a nominee that intentionally misrepresents the facts in the context of a confirmation process. this involved his -- his participation in -- or involvement with a set of stolen confidential documents that his law firm obtained during a lawsuit of the sherwin williams company. mr. mcconnell told members said -- quote -- "i was not familiar with the documents in any fashion." close quote. only a few months later in september of 2010, this same nominee gave a deposition in an ohio court where he testified that he was the first attorney at his firm to review the documents in question. that he had drafted a newspaper editorial citing information that had come fro

senator rick santorum on his view of foreign policy. the pennsylvania republican formed an exploratory committee. this is hosted by the ethicsd policy center and is about one hour. >> welcome. thank you for coming. my name is randy and i am the program director at the ethics and public policy center. senator santorum established this program four years ago and we have featured more than 20 public events with notable speaker such as bernard lewis. the program has provided regular commentary on an -- an analysis on radical islam, religious freedom, and other challenges. this is not a new passion for the senator nor is foreign affairs a new issue for him. he served eight years on the senate armed services committee to help to modernize and strengthen our military. he served on the senate finance committee with his jurisdiction in international trade issues. he also taught to read this courage of aids and malaria from africa and. in a dozen sex can he give a speech on the gathering storm -- in 2006, he gave a speech on the gathering storm. the senator looks forward to taking your questions. ibid just asked to state your name and

ethics counsel under president bush, richard painter, has written, professor liu's -- quote -- "original answers to the questions asked by the judiciary committee were a careful and good-faith effort to supply the senate with the information it needed to assess its nomination." close quote. it means a great deal to me that someone like mr. painter concluded that professor liu provided a lot more information than most nominees do in similar circumstances, and frankly it seems to me overreaching to try and suggest that simply because in the youtube age, this professor who provided us with hours of testimony, pages of responses failed to notice the committee about some brown bag lunches and off the cuff comments does not rise to the standard of justifying a filibuster. let me next turn to the suggestion that he is insufficiently qualified to hold the position of circuit judge. an important concern, because we want judges of judicial temperament, of openness and candor and good character and also those who are sufficiently experienced. as i said a moment ago, the american bar association, after a searching, confidential, comprehensive review of his qualifications, concluded he was unanimously well qualifi

ethics counsel under president bush, richard painter, has written, professor liu's -- quote -- "original answers to the questions asked by the judiciary committee were a careful and good-faith effort to supply the senate with the information it needed to assess its nomination." close quote. it means a great deal to me that someone like mr. painter concluded that professor liu provided a lot more information than most nominees do in similar circumstances, and frankly it seems to me overreaching to try and suggest that simply because in the youtube age, this professor who provided us with hours of testimony, pages of responses failed to notice the committee about some brown bag lunches and off the cuff comments does not rise to the standard of justifying a filibuster. let me next turn to the suggestion that he is insufficiently qualified to hold the position of circuit judge. an important concern, because we want judges of judicial temperament, of openness and candor and good character and also those who are sufficiently experienced. as i said a moment ago, the american bar association, after a searching, confidential, comprehensive review of his qualifications, concluded he was unanimously well qualifi