Did Feds Target Michael Moore?

Updated

Michael Moore's attorney, David Boies, says that the federal government may have selected the filmmaker "for discriminatory treatment" in its probe of his trip to Cuba for "Sicko."

Boies, famous for representing Al Gore's 2000 challenge in the Florida recount, noted Moore's criticism of President Bush via his film "Fahrenheit 9/11." He, Moore, and Harvey Weinstein were due to give a press conference in New York this afternoon.

"I am requesting that you provide to me information regarding the person or persons who participated in making the decision to send Mr. Thompson's letter, the nature of the discussions that took place, and the knowledge your office had of Mr. Moore and his trip to Cuba at the time the letter was sent," Boies wrote in a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Treasury Department informed Moore last month that he was under investigation for violating a trade embargo against Cuba when he travelled there to shoot a scene for "Sicko," slated for release on June 29.

Moore is scheduled in Sacramento on Tuesday to testify at a hearing on health care, and to attend a screening of the movie later in the day.

Update: At the press conference, Moore's team accused the Bush administration of a smear campaign. From Variety's Dade Hayes: "Moore, who did most of the talking Monday, told the 30 or so media members present that he is 'concerned about that the Bush Administration might do over the next couple of weeks. I would have thought they would have waited until long after the film had been released to go after me.'"