Claude Allen refund scheme update ...

Allen's lawyer,Mallon Snyder, tells WaPo he's confident he'll be able to prove the incidents were "a series of misunderstandings."

Lotta misunderstandings. More than 25, according to the police.

In any case, with so many high-level felony arrests at the White House one does need to make some effort to categorize them. Most have been crimes of the regime -- either tied to specific executive decision-making like the Libby case, or ones that flow from the nature of the operation, as I would argue the Safavian case clearly does.

But this case, at least on its face, seems personal and clinical. An accomplished man, making $160,000 a year making a few grand ripping off radios and photo-printers from the local Target?

That said, Allen always struck me as a very weird dude. I can only imagine the backstory that's going to emerge on this one.