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Former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico went public Wednesday with a more than 30-year-old secret, that he fathered a child with then-24-year-old daughter of a Senate colleague, but there are a number of questions still left unanswered by the revelation.

Domenici and Michelle Laxalt — now a powerful Washington lobbyist — sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal identifying their son as Nevada attorney Adam Paul Laxalt, 34.

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They said they decided to go public with their secret because they felt someone was going to reveal the information to smear Domenici, now 80 and retired since 2009.

Neither have explained why they thought that might be true, or why someone would want to “smear” a retired politician.

Laxalt, 58, said she chose to raise her son as a single parent and agreed to keep Domenici’s fatherhood a secret because both he and her father were senators at the time.

“Given the fact that both my father and the father of my child were United States senators, I felt strongly that I would make this choice according to my values and would not seek advice, input or permission,” Laxalt said.