Inside Washington

With Haiti as the White House crisis du jour, Administration officials have been unhappily juggling some hot potatoes lobbed into the Justice Department by federal drug informants -- namely, a series of uncorroborated but sensational allegations that Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's erstwhile President, took hundreds of thousands of dollars in look-the-other-way money from Colombian drug cartels while in office. Though none of the claims have been supported, and the sources may have suspect motives, jittery officials fear that discounting the accusations would incur charges of political favoritism. "My guidance is to go by the book and to follow any leads that are appropriate," Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick told TIME.