FROM RUBY RIDGE TO CAPITOL HILL

Randy Weaver wept during televised hearings as he told a Senate subcommittee today how federal law enforcement officers spied on him and his family, then shot his son, his wife and a friend during an 11-day standoff in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Republican lawmakers, in particular, have seized on the white separatist's cause now that five top FBI officials have been suspended while they are investigated on charges of a once-unthinkable coverup. "These hearings are trying to find out three things," reports senior writer Richard Lacayo. "First, what really happened on that mountain. Second, and centrally, who approved the revised rules of engagement. The FBI orders allowed agents to shoot any armed male. Regulations ordinarily allow deadly force only in the case of an immediate threat to the agent or another agent. And, lastly, the extent of any FBI coverup." Last month, the government agreed to pay Weaver and his surviving children $3.1 million in compensation.