Here's a way to keep Joe McGinniss's gossipy book in the headlines. Sarah Palin is threatening to sue McGinniss and publisher, Crown, a division of Random House, for "knowingly publishing false statements" in the book The Rogue published last week. A source in Palin's camp tells ABC News that the "Palins are fighting back and demanding answers from Random House.” The widely panned, widely covered book brokered one of those rare moments when the media genuinely felt sorry for Palin for its anonymously-sourced tales of cocaine use and sex.

At the center of the Palin threat is an alleged email written by McGinniss in which he acknowledges not having enough evidence backing up some of his claims in the book. Palin family attorney John Tiemessen, who wrote a letter to Crown threatening to sue, says the McGinniss email "clearly describes the fact that Mr. McGinniss researched and investigated many false and scurrilous allegations, and concluded that there was absolutely no evidence anywhere backing these allegations.” That email has been published on Andrew Brietbart's conservative website, without noting how it was uncovered. In it, McGinniss writes "Legal review of my manuscript is underway and here’s my problem: no one has ever offered documentation of any of the lurid stories about the Palins.”

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John Hudson