It sounds like the federal grand jury probe of the sex-and-lobbying scandal that ensnared Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is getting hotter than a Las Vegas parking lot in July.
Two Justice Department investigators came to Sin City last week with subpoenas for six local business, reports a TV news station — part of what’s described as a “wide-ranging and deadly-serious criminal probe.”
According to the report, the subpoenas sought all available information on contacts between the businesses and Ensign, his top staffers, or Hampton.
The Feds are …

A California-based PAC called the Republican Majority Campaign spent nearly all of the $1.7 million it raked in from conservative donors last year, but less than 2% of the money went to supporting candidates or independent political spending.
The rest of the money raised by the group went to operating expenses, salaries for the PAC’s top officers, and back into fundraising appeals — which often ask supporters for as much as $144 in exchange for sending faxes opposing health care reform to members of Congress.
The …

The Majority Leader of the Utah House took a nude hot-tub with a 15-year old employee, then paid her $150,000 and had her pledge to keep quiet, he admitted yesterday.
The incident occurred in 1985, when Kevin Garn was 30, and married. In 2002, when Garn, a Republican, was running for Congress, the woman, Cheryl Maher, began contacting reporters with the story, prompting Garn to pay her and have an attorney draft a non-disclosure agreement, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
With his wife by his …

A California Republican family values legislator who was arrested early Wednesday morning for drunk driving had recently left a gay club, sources tell a local news channel.
State senator Roy Ashburn was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol on Wednesday at 2am in Sacramento, after police saw the car he was driving swerving erratically. An unidentified male passenger was in the car with Ashburn.
The sources told CBS13 that Ashburn, a father of four, had that night been at Faces, which touts itself as …

In Liz Cheney’s worldview, Rudy Giuliani is a disloyal al Qaeda sympathizer.
Let us explain.
Yesterday, Cheney’s outfit, a group called Keep America Safe, went up with a blistering ad that attacked Justice Department lawyers who previously represented Guantanamo detainees and are now working on detainee issues. The ad dubbed the lawyers “the Al Qaeda Seven” and asked “whose values do they share?” while flashing an image of Osama bin Laden.
It turns out that among the many high-profile lawyers who have represented so-called “terrorist detainees” is …

An attack on Justice Department officials who previously represented detainees at Guantanamo was spawned by Sen. Chuck Grassley at a hearing last November, ricocheted around the right-wing media, and culminated today in a video release by Liz Cheney’s group that all but accuses the lawyers of being terrorists.
The campaign-style ad from Cheney’s Keep America Safe dubs the lawyers “the Al Qaeda Seven” and asks, “Whose values do they share?” while flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden.
At issue are DOJ lawyers who, before they …

The National Archives has written to the Justice Department, looking for answers on the question of John Yoo’s missing emails — and has given the department 30 days to respond.
In a letter to Jeannette Plant, the director of DOJ’s Office of Records Management Policy, NARA director Paul Wester wrote:
In accordance with 36 CFR 1230.16(b), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is writing to the Department of Justice (DOJ) with a request for a response within 30 days of the date of this letter. …

Michael Steele paid over $122,000 from his personal political account to a Washington law firm. The Steele camp suggests there’s an innocent explanation — but the Baltimore Sun is raising questions.
The paper reported over the weekend that Steele’s Maryland state campaign committee — which dates from his 2002 run for lieutenant governor — paid $122,195.01 during the second half of 2009 to Bryan Cave LLP, a top Beltway law and lobbying firm. That report was based on state election filings.
The filings …

The level of internal tension within the always fractious Tea Party is reaching a boiling point, in the wake of yesterday’s meeting with RNC chair Michael Steele and amid early efforts to build a third party out of the grassroots movement.
A major Tea Party group has announced its opposition to the idea of creating a third party — drawing scorn from at least one activist. And a new anti-Steele website warns of the “‘hijacking’ of the Tea Party Movement by the GOP.” …

Attorney Orly Taitz has found a way to turn the $20,000 fine levied against her for frivolous legal filings into an opportunity to prove that President Obama was not born in the U.S.
Taitz tells birther-friendly WorldNetDaily she has filed a request with a federal judge in Washington to force Obama to give up his birth documents because she needs them in the appeal of her fine, which was imposed in October as part of a case in Georgia.
Taitz also says she is defending herself …