Kerik's ex-mistress sues Murdoch, alleges she was told to lie about stuff

As if the Pat Robertson endorsement wasn't embarrassing enough, Rudy Giuliani suddenly confronted a federal indictment of his close friend, business partner and police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, which promises a long-running trial all next year about the man Giuliani recommended to President Bush to be named to head Homeland Security.

Those will be swell headlines to answer questions about daily on the campaign trail if Giuliani makes it past Feb. 5.

Now comes this today, a $100-million defamation lawsuit by Judith Regan, the loud-mouthed book promoter, against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and others alleging she was asked to lie to federal investigators to help protect Giuliani, an alleged Murdoch favorite. Besides editing Kerik's book "The Lost Son," it seems Regan was also Kerik's mistress for a while.

When Giuliani recommended Kerik for the Homeland Security post, federal investigators began nosing around New York, and Regan says she was told by bosses to tell lies to protect Giuliani, and then executives began trying to ruin her reputation for fear she'd spill the beans, and then she was fired on phony charges of anti-Semitism.

And then when Martian spaceships attacked ...

Just kidding. The whole thing reads like one of the trashy plots she peddled and promoted so successfully for years. Remember, Regan was the one who was "editing" the O.J. Simpson book about how he didn't kill what's-her-name and what's-his-name but here's how he might have done it if he had. The book that was on everyone's must-have Christmas list last year.

So what a tale Regan will have to tell when she puts her own book up for auction in a couple of years. But you don't have to wait that long. The Times' Josh Getlin has the day's news story here on this website and in Wednesday's print editions.

-- Andrew Malcolm