So now we've got the response from the self-confessedly corrupt Alphonso Jackson.

He was just kidding.

HUD spokeswoman Dustee Tucker told the Chicago Sun-Times: ''The secretary's story was anecdotal. He is not part of the contracting process. He was trying to explain to this group how politics works in D.C."

This doesn't sound like a particularly exculpatory explanation. That story was made up. Jackson was just how explaining how he does business?

Then there's this ...

Tucker said Jackson does not plan to resign. She acknowledged that he did not tell the audience the story was made up. But, she said, Jackson used the ''hypothetical'' story to describe the ruthless politics of Washington. She said Jackson was trying to convey that Washington is a place where political opponents, rather than stabbing you in the back, ''will stab you in the chest.''

This 'hypothetical' sounds more like he was trying to explain how he operates.