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• May 14, 2008 7:01 pm US/Eastern
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  Alleged Booker In Spitzer Sex Ring Pleads Guilty

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Alleged Booker In Spitzer Sex Ring Pleads Guilty

Friends Tell CBS 2 HD Feds Gunning For Former Governor, Say He Sometimes Has Will To Fight To Clear Name

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is one step closer to facing possible criminal charges.

The woman who booked a prostitute for him pleaded guilty Wednesday agreed to testify before a federal grand jury.

This as Spitzer's friends tell CBS 2 HD the feds may want more than his resignation.

Spitzer and his wife, Silda, were a picture of unity as they left their Fifth Avenue apartment Wednesday, just hours after Temeka Lewis struck a deal and pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

"Her agreement obligates her to testify if asked," said Marc Agnifilo, Lewis' attorney.

And that's a problem for Spitzer because the FBI secretly recorded conversations between Lewis and him arranging a Feb. 13 tryst with a prostitute named "Kristen."

Spitzer wanted her to travel from New York to Washington to meet him in a hotel – a federal felony.

In addition to Lewis, the government reportedly has evidence against Spitzer from several sources.

"Either the U.S. does or does not have evidence about someone else, I don't think she plays any role in any decision the government is going to make about the future of this investigation," Agnifilo said.

But friends tell CBS 2 HD the feds seem to want Spitzer to face criminal charges.

One friend told CBS 2 HD: "Some days Eliot is full of bluster and says he'll go to trial and win. Other days he realizes it could be embarrassing for his wife and three daughters. The question is whether he has the stomach to fight it out."

While the legal wheels turn Spitzer is running the family's $500 million real estate empire from a building on Fifth Avenue.

Meanwhile, friends say Silda Spitzer is standing by her man.

"Silda is resolute," a family friend said. "And she's mad at some of Eliot's friends for not supporting him more. But how do you tell her that what he's done is indefensible?"

A Spitzer spokeswoman declined to comment.

But sources say that dealings between the former governor and the feds have been completely professional, adding they are still investigating and Spitzer is not out of the woods yet.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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