Still more bombshells in the Foley affair.  And still the leadership did nothing but cover it up, lie furiously, try to blame it on the Democrats, and look the other way.

Don't miss Evan Thomas's excellent takeout from Newsweek.  To whet your appetite:

On one night in 2002 or 2003, an allegedly inebriated Foley showed up at the pages' dorm after a 10 p.m. curfew and tried to gain entry, according to an account provided by two congressional sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Foley was turned away by a guard. It is not known if the pages were ever aware that Foley lurked outside their door, but word of the incident reached the House Clerk, who notified Foley's chief of staff, Kirk Fordham.

This was not the first time that Fordham had learned of his boss's behaving, in that modern all-purpose euphemism, "inappropriately." Fordham decided that it was time to go to a higher authority, so he went to see Scott Palmer, chief of staff to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. That, at least, is what Fordham is prepared to tell investigators, according to a knowledgeable source who requested anonymity in discussing the probe. Palmer has already accused Fordham of dissembling, and Washington is settling in for one of its periodic melodramas of moralizing and prurience.

And Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer may be in trouble, as is his boss:

On one occasion, sometime in 2002 or 2003, [then-House Clerk] Trandahl told Fordham about Foley's nocturnal adventure to the pages' dorm. Trandahl told Fordham that Foley "appeared intoxicated," according to the source who provided Fordham's account to NEWSWEEK.

This incident prompted Fordham to go to Scott Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, and tell him about Foley's behavior. Fordham called Palmer and told him that he wanted to speak with him privately, the source says. The two men met in a small office on Capitol Hill. (Palmer says the meeting never took place.) . . .

Palmer assured Fordham that he would talk to Foley. A day or two later, Fordham called Palmer to ask what happened. Palmer told him that he "dealt with it" by talking to Foley and that he "informed the Speaker," according to the source familiar with Fordham's account. Months later Fordham had an awkward conversation with Foley in which his boss indicated that he had spoken to Palmer. . .

Last week, as House GOP leaders felt the waves of scandal breaking over their heads, a spokesman for Hastert insisted that Fordham had never warned the Speaker or his top aide, Palmer. "What Fordham said did not happen," said Palmer in a written statement. Trandhahl, who resigned for unknown reasons as Clerk of the House in November 2005, was not returning phone calls. Trandahl, who like Fordham is openly gay, could be an important witness as the House ethics committee begins an inquiry.

Oh, and by the way, something tells me I know what the Ethics Committee's gonna say...