Paper: Sen. Tom Coburn Suggested Bribery Payoff [updtd 4]

Doug Hampton, the husband of the woman Sen. John Ensign of Nevada had an affair with, has done his first interview. There's a lot of bad in it, but one tiny item jumped out:

The group, including Coburn, a well-known conservative, confronted Ensign and suggested that the Hamptons needed to be given financial assistance -- in the millions of dollars -- to pay off their $1 million-plus mortgage and move them to a new life away from Ensign.

Um, ain't that illegal? Or at least unethical? (Title revised: I guess it wouldn't technically be bribery for an official to buy someone's silence. But it sure would need answering for. On both Ensign's and Coburn's accounts.)

Update: A bit more detail:

In February, Hampton said, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others at the Christian fellowship house where Ensign stays when in Washington confronted Ensign. The Nevada senator responded by writing a note of apology to Cynthia Hampton.

Doug Hampton said Coburn told Ensign he needed to pay off the mortgage on their $1.2 million Las Vegas home and move them to Colorado.

Update II: A Coburn spokesman denies without denying that the senator suggested a payoff.

Update III: Coburn now flatly denying the claims.

Update IV: Josh Marshall is wondering why this isn't a bigger story. That's what I was wondering yesterday.