Reply #28: You make an excellent point [View All]

I believe two witnesses are required for the 1982 law to be applied. In the case of a leak, witnesses are difficult to acquire. Usually the only literal witnesses are the one who does the leak and the one who receives the leak. Neither is apt to talk.

There's always the conspiracy angle, but that would require getting the literal goods on someone like Libby and bargaining with him in order to hook a bigger political fish, for example Karl Rove. I do not think the odds of this are good as long as Ashcroft is spearheading the investigation.

It might be the most that can be made of this is a true political hot potato as opposed to the unraveling of a felony due to the unlikely odds of acquiring two witnesses.

However, it has been suggested unofficially that these charges might be pursuable under the Patriot Act. I am not familiar with the requirements of how that would be done, but I am sure the pursuit of the charge of treason also requires two witnesses.

Perhaps John Dean's suggestion of a civil lawsuit is the best we can hope for, but considering Wilson's wife's statements, I am not sure she would be willing to step into the light for the purpose of pursuing the leakers in civil court .... What do you think?