1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

REPORTED BY:

UNITED STATES SENATE

Select Committee on Ethics

IN RE: ENSIGN INQUIRY

CONFIDENTIAL DEPOSITION OF

Monday, March 21, 2 011

Hart Senate Office Building

Suite 220

ft'

2

1 Deposition of called f o r

2 examination pursuant to notice of deposition,

3 Monday, March 21, 2011, i n Washington, DC, at the

4 Senate Select Committee on Ethics, Hart Senate

5 Office Building, Suite 220, at 3:54 p.m., before

w i t h i n and f o r the 7 D i s t r i c t of Columbia, when were present on behalf of

8 the respective

9

ESQ

12 Gates LLP

13 1601 K Street, NW

14 Washington, DC 20006-1600

15 202-778-9000

On behalf of Senate Ethics Committee

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

--continued--

25

•SSCE0000002

1

2

3

4

. 5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

APPEARANCES (continued)

ESQ.

ESQ.

United States Senate Select

Committee on Ethics

220 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 2 0510

202-224-2981 •

On behalf of Senate Ethics Committee

United States Senate Select

Committee on Ethics

220 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 2 0510

202-

On behalf of Senate Ethics Committee

4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

P R O C E E D I N G S

Whereupon,

was called as a witness and, having f i r s t been duly

sworn, was examined and t e s t i f i e d as follows:

EXAMINATION

BY

Q Good afternoon.

A Good afternoon.

law f i r m of Gates. Our f i r m has been appointed

special counsel i n the preliminary i n q u i r y regarding

Senator John Ensign. You've met us a l l o f f the record, but to

my l e f t i s

I have a long preamble to read to you that

we read to every witness. I f you have any questions

about i t , j u s t l e t me know.

A You don't need to, but I sense you w i l l

anyway. I'm very f a m i l i a r with depositions, but go

Q Well, t h i s preamble you may not have heard

5

1 before. I t ' s unique t o where we are here today.

2 A Okay.

3 Q Senate Select Committee on Ethics has

4 summoned you here today f o r deposition a witness

5 i n connection with the committee's preliminary

6 inquiry concerning Senator John Ensign. Our

7 questions and your answers w i l l be recorded by the

8 court reporter. Because t h i s i s a deposition before

9 a l e g i s l a t i v e branch agency, your statements today

10 are subject to the False Statements Statute, Section

11 1001 of T i t l e XVIII of the U.S.. Code.

12 A d d i t i o n a l l y , because t h i s i s a sworn

13 deposition, your statements are also subject to

14 penalty of perjury, both under Section of the

15 Supplementary Procedural Rules of the Select

16 Committee on Ethics, as well as Section 1621 and

17 1505 of T i t l e XVIII of the U.S. Code.

Thus you may not make any

19 false statements or knowingly mislead the committee

2 0 through your answers here today.

Also I want to l e t you know about some

rules regarding t h i s proceeding. Supplementary

2 3 Procedure Rule 8 dictates s t r i c t on

our part regarding the fact of t h i s deposition and

2 5 a l l statements made here today. This r u l e does not

26

•SSCE0000005

6

1 govern your discussions of t h i s interview, however.

2 I t ' s our expectation that no witness w i l l t a i l o r

3 statements or t a l k to other witnesses i n order to

4 give your testimony. We want the t r u t h , whole t r u t h

5 and nothing but the t r u t h .

6 We request you r e f r a i n from discussing our

7 questions and your answers wit h anyone, other than

8 your attorney, and since you are an attorney, j u s t

9 t a l k to yourself. Do you understand that?

10 A Yes.

11 Q Addit i o n a l l y , pursuant to Supplementary

12 Rule 6, you are e n t i t l e d the opportunity t o inspect

13 the t r a n s c r i p t of your deposition i n the committee's

14 o f f i c e s and request t r a n s c r i p t i o n errors be

15 corrected through an errata sheet. I f you wish to

16 do t h i s , please contact us, you'd have to come back

17 here to do i t . We can't l e t the deposition

18 t r a n s c r i p t leave the room.

19 you want to take a break, l e t us know.

2 0 We'd ask you not do a break while a question i s

21 pending. We're not t r y i n g t o t r i p you up here.

22 We're both attorneys. I f I ask an i n a r t f u l

23 question, j u s t l e t me know and I ' l l re-ask i t .

24 (Exhibit i d e n t i f i e d . )

26

SSCE0000006

1

2

3

4

5

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Q

A

Q

A

Q

With a l l t h a t s a i d , I'm going to show you

Okay.

Does t h i s document look f a m i l i a r to you?

Yes, i t

I s i t the n o t i c e we sent to you to appear

here today?

A Yes, i t i s .

Q J u s t throw i t i n the middle.

S t a r t w i t h easy s t u f f . What's your

background?

A

Q And what employment have you had s i n c e you

completed

A

•SSCE0000007

9

12

gave me

c e l l phone, and I one afternoon picked i t up and

called i t , I would get the answering machine,

but I actually got him.

Q What happened -- that's Senator John

Ensign?

Q And what was his response?

A He -- there was the proverbial pregnant

pause. I detected him l e t t i n g out a sigh and said

why did he have to get. lawyers involved. And I

said, w e l l , he has. I j u s t need to know who your

representative would be.

And he said he would get back to me.

17

4 Q Okay. Just to backtrack a l i t t l e . On the

5 i n i t i a l c a l l w i t h Senator Ensign, you said he had

6 sighed and said why do lawyers have to get involved?

7 Did he speak to you about anything else, about the

8 facts or settlements or anything of that nature?

9 A

10 Q Just I ' l l get back to you?

Yes. And I think i t was something more,

20

21

22

-SSCE0000022

23

26

28

30

SSCE0000032

38

43

53

-SSCE0000054

57

where John came out and s a i d he

wasn't going t o run again f o r r e e l e c t i o n ,

heard t h a t John was f l y i n g back

t o Las Vegas from here, D.C., and he was going t o be

having a press conference, and|

was going t o admit a f f a i r p u b l i c l y .

63

SSCE0000066

67

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

i d e n t i f i e d . )

Q Let me show you f i r s t see i f you've

seen t h a t document before.

A Yeah, I have seen t h a t .

Q what connection have you seen t h i s

document before?

A

Q

-SSCE0000067

70

73

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

( E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d .

BY Q Just f o r quick housekeeping, can you

i d e n t i f y

A

Let's take a quick break.

You can go i n the anteroom. We'll come back on, see

i f we have anything f u r t h e r f o r you.

•SSCE0000073

74

THE WITNESS: • I was going t o say, are we

2 g e t t i n g close?

4 (Recess.)

7 o Those notes r i g h t t here we're showing you.

Q Yes. Thank you.

•SSCE0000074

78

That's a l l I have.

Thank you f o r your time.

THE WITNESS: You're welcome.

(Whereupon, a t 5:28 p.m., the d e p o s i t i o n

•SSCE0000081

82

1

2

5

6

7

I HEREBY CERTIFY t h a t I have t h i s

t r a n s c r i p t of my d e p o s i t i o n and t h a t t h i s t r a n s c r i p t

3 a c c u r a t e l y s t a t e s the testimony given by me, w i t h

the changes or c o r r e c t i o n s , i f any, as noted.

X

9

10

11 Subscribed and sworn t o before, me t h i s day of

12 , 20 .

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20 My commission ex p i r e s :

22

23

24

25

X

Notary Public

•SSCE0000082

83

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

C O N T E N T S

WITNESS EXAMINATION

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

EXHIBIT NUMBER

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

E x h i b i t i d e n t i f i e d

IDENTIFIED

6

21

32

73

61

67