The Goss rumors hit the MSM (now that Boehlert has adopted that accursed abbreviation, I guess we’re stuck with it). Please keep your arms and legs inside the tram at all times, the ride is about to begin:
(update: or maybe not. The Times this morning continues to ignore this aspect of the story…)
WASHINGTON – CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.
Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.
A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but “just for poker.”
Intelligence and law enforcement sources said solid evidence had yet to emerge that Goss also went to the parties, but Goss and Foggo share a fondness for poker and expensive cigars, and the FBI investigation was continuing.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA operative and a Bush administration critic, said Goss “had a relationship with Dusty and with Brent Wilkes that’s now coming under greater scrutiny.”
Johnson vouched for the integrity of Foggo and Goss but said, “Dusty was a big poker player, and it’s my understanding that Porter Goss was also there \[at Wilkes’ parties\] for poker. It’s going to be guilt by association.”
“It’s all about the Duke Cunningham scandal,” a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News in reference to Goss’ resignation.
Related: this Kos diarist wonders if the hooker scandal is actually a gay hooker scandal. For further perspective on the issue, read this.