Failed Bush-appointee Bernard Kerik‘s “affair with Judith Regan, the editor who published his autobiography, Lost Son, continues to generate headlines,” observes a Newsweek story hitting newsstands today, before going on to make its own headlines. The magazine’s Charles Gasparino reports that just after Kerik’s nomination for Homeland Security head was announced, Regan was contacted by an “associate” of Kerik, who “indicated to Regan how Kerik might characterize their relationship when asked about it during a background check.” Regan was told Kerik was planning to call it a “brother-sister” relationship, which she took “as code for her to mischaracterize what she has told people was a sexual affair.” Although the story seems clearly to have originated from the Regan camp, Regan wouldn’t comment. Not so surprisingly, neither would Kerik. Meanwhile, the Newsweek story also says Jess Walter, “the writer who worked with Kerik” on Lost Son, “had complained to officials at Regan Books that there were inconsistencies in some of the material provided by Kerik.” The report cites as one example Kerik’s claim that a letter written to him from police officers working at Ground Zero told him, “You lead and we will follow.”