Noose Tightening on Ensign

Part 1
Part 2

The scandal now has the department issuing subpoenas to, "have been issued to at least six Sas Vegas businesses," as well as to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSCC).

As to the businesses, we are looking at what may be an actual bribery case:

One of those companies was eCommLink, formerly run by Jack Williams, a man who claimed to have invented the gift card.

Senator Ensign's then-Chief of Staff John Lopez welcomed the opportunity to help a Nevada company. But sources say Ensign's office quickly seized on the opportunity to get something in return.

Sources close to the situation say Ensign's office warned eCommLink and others about pending prepaid card regulation and that donations and support could make those troublesome rules go away.

So, basically the story is as follows: John Ensign sleeps with the wife of a longtime friend and aide, he then gets his parents to pay his friend off, and throws illegal (there is supposed to be a waiting period) lobbying work to his ex-friend in order to keep things quiet, only it appears that there was some more run of the mill corruption, that Ensign, as head of the NRSCC, may have used his position to extort campaign donations.

The mainstream media has studiously avoided covering it, the Washington Post has yet to publish a stand alone story on the scandal yet, for example, but thankfully Rachael Maddow has been all over this, as the two videos (7:33 & 6:35) show.