Report: Ensign to acknowledge affair

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who recently raised his profile as a potential 2012 presidential contender with a trip to Iowa, will acknowledge an extramarital affair on Tuesday, Chris Cillizza and Paul Kane of the Washington Post report.

Ensign will hold a press conference on Tuesday on the issue.

Citing two “senior GOP political strategists,” the Post reports that the disclosure is “imminent.”

Chris Matthews on MSNBC just said that the affair was with a campaign staffer.

From The Fix:

In February 2002, Ensign took an unexplained two week leave of absence from the Senate citing “personal reasons.”

When he returned from that respite, Ensign told the Las Vegas Sun that he was “not making any comments one way or the other. I’m just asking people to respect my privacy.”

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that the affair was with a member of Ensign’s campaign staff and took place between December 2007 and August 2008. The staffer was married to someone that formerly worked in Ensign’s Senate office. Neither work for Ensign at this time, according to the AP.

“I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” the senator told the AP.

UPDATE 2: The press conference will take place at 6:30 P.M. EST, according to a statement from Ensign’s office.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-staging.thehill.com