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A thief in the first lady's box?

And who says they're asleep at the switch?

White House domestic policy advisor Claude Allen -- who now stands accused of felony charges that he repeatedly stole merchandise from Target and Hecht's -- was a guest in the first lady's box at the State of the Union speech on Jan. 31. As the New York Times reports, that was nearly a month after Allen told Andy Card and Harriet Miers that he had been issued a misdemeanor citation for theft.

Update:Perhaps we're rushing to judgment here. As several readers point out below, Allen has reportedly suggested to friends that his ne'er-do-well twin brother may have been responsible for the events that led to his arrest. So maybe that wasn't Claude Allen in Laura Bush's box after all. . . .

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The curse of Obama's old Senate seat
The president's last job certainly helped him out -- so why does no one else want it?
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The reporter says he was mainly treated well, but was slapped during one interrogation
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The previous administration's surveillance was even more extensive than we'd known, and DOJ didn't like it
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War Room is written and edited by Alex Koppelman, with contributions from Salon reporters around the country.