WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Tom Coburn - who confronted fellow Sen. John Ensign in an effort to convince him to end an extramarital affair - denied allegations Thursday he'd suggested Ensign pay off the husband of the woman he was having an affair with, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that he would not berevealing the content of his conversations with the Nevada senator:
Reporter: At no point did you suggest payments be made?Coburn: A categorical (denial) is exactly what I just said.
Reporter: But you denied millions, did you suggest payments at all?
Coburn: I categorically deny that, period.
Reporter: But do you deny that you were there at the February 2008…
Coburn: I was there.
Reporter: You were there?
Coburn: Sure.
Reporter: Is that the first time you learned about it?
Coburn: I'm not going to talk about that. I'm just telling you I was there.
Reporter: And you won't say what you told him?
Coburn: No, and I never will. Not to a court of law, not to the ethics committee, to anybody. Because that is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody.
–CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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No, Dr Coburn, you helped to facilitate a payoff. Resign, now, and go back to denying global warming on your own time.
GOP=total moral paupers.
Standard GOP operating procedure
Can you say SUBPOENA????
Who CARES???????
Now Coburn has stepped in it!
Dr. Tom Coburn, I know you're a member of a learned profession, but do you know the meaning of "privileged communications" in a legal sense? Unless you are Senator Ensign's spouse, attorney, or priest, you cannot claim that the conversation was privileged in a court of law.
This just keeps getting better and better.
This is not why we vote politicians into office. We expect them to do a job, like the rest of us.
The Republican party is a thing of the past.
Sounds like a cover up so ensign can keep his seat. Talk about unethical. And I thought Blago's pay-to-play scheme was bad. That's small fries compared to what I think is going on in Ensign's situation.
If he had to testify about what he told Ensign to do, right now he would be in jail for contempt of court...
Repugs...think they are above the law
Coburn musn't have gotten the memo from RNC Steele declaring the entire episode as old news. . . lack of communication fits right in with all those other pesky GOP negatives.
On a lighter note, so glad Coburn isn't going to spill the beans. Been sitting on pins and needles worrying myself that he would.
How silly you GOPers are.
Isn't Sen. Coburn's silence on this matter kind of unethical? Come on. Coburn may know if Ensign was paying these people to keep their mouths shut. This is why Ensign should resign.
It appears that the "Christian Republians" house known as C-Street was the common denominator in a lot of the cases. I thinks it's where they gathered to discuss how to have an affair and get out of it the easiest way.
More to come, folks ....................................................
He told him he loved him and explained the benefits of a "wide stance."
Palin-Bachmann 2012
I am not perfect so I have no intrest in trying to judge anyone else.
omg who cares? even if he did pay off the husband, there'd be nothing illegal about it, so what's all the hullabaloo? WHERE IS THE STORY HERE?
I do believe he advised ensign to pay something, but we will probably not find out how much. Ensign only held the press conference because he knew the story was getting ready to come out, and he was being blackmailed.
Alright, we will leave you well alone, Coburn. Lat's see you do something useful and anticipate immediate and impressive results, buddy!
Sen. Coburn, from Oklahoma, has many times on national television and in the senate chamber expressed the "family values" endorsed by the Republican party. So, I'm not surprised that he offered his opinion. He and his colleagues, in residence in the "C Street" housing, probably share many conversations. Unless an "official" wrong doing comes to light, I expect we'll never know what was discussed.
Coburn is a self serving jerk. As an Oklahoman, he is an embarrasment to all of us. A typical Republican who values lies and coverups over ethics and morals.
So he will refuse to answer a direct question in a court of law? Yep, he's a Republican alright.
That's the good ole buddy system for you!
A bunch of crooks and they stick together. Both Coburn and Ensign need to resign.
privileged? not exactly. Unless he thinks he is above a Congressional or judicial subpoena.
The hits from the GOP just-a keeps- a-commin'.
Ahhhh – secrets, secrets, secrets – same old grand obstructionis party. Can't wait for 2010. We still have one of those worms as our Senator. NO MORE.
Already campaigning to get rid of him. We got Dole "off the dole".
Coburn will do anything to defend Senator "Family Values" Ensign because embracing adulters and daiper-wearing prostitute cusomers like Vitter is what Promise Keepers do while condemning everyone else.
Do as I say, not as I do.