Yesterday,
Mark Kleiman posted a remarkable
analysis of Judge Hogan's remarks to the media after yesterday's hearing. If Mark is reading the tea leaves correctly, Rove (or whomever the target might be) isn't likely to be prosecuted under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, but rather under the Espionage Act:
(more below the fold, obviously...)
Note that under IIPA a reporter's use of information, except as part of an Agee-type "pattern," wouldn't be a crime. So for the judge to say that Miller's potential use of the information would have been a crime, the prosecutor must be thinking of Espionage Act prosecution, and the judge must think that's plausible.
To which I can say only: "Espionage Act?! Holy shit!"
Ponder, if you will, the difference between the media coverage of an indictment under the prosaicly named IIPA, and the coverage of an Espionage Act indictment. Just imagine the headline!
TOP BUSH AIDE INDICTED ON COUNT OF ESPIONAGE
If Kleiman is right, and this is where Fitzgerald is headed... hang on to your hats. This is going to be a helluva show. If it all ties back to the DSM, it's going to make Watergate look like a speeding ticket.