The government has dropped charges against two lobbyists formerly with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) alleged to have unlawfully shared classified information with reporters.
The case was very flimsy from the first and appeared an effort by the previous administration to make a point at the penal expense of the defendants and at the substantive expense of all of us. The espionage statute involved goes back to 1917 and this was its FIRST use against persons not employed by the US government.
This administration gets some credit for dropping the matter, but not a lot. The new Attorney General reached this decision only after a court decision that said that the prosecutors would have to prove not only that the sopread of this information would harm the interests of the United States but that the leakers acted knowing that it would have that effect.
There simply was no evidence to that effect.
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