The allegations are explosive: in 2006, a senior Democratic lawmaker cut a secret deal with an... 
(ABC News)
The Justice Department may drop charges against two pro-Israel lobbyists suspected of spying for Israel and transmitting national security information to Israeli diplomats and journalists, sources briefed on the case tell ABC News. This news comes after allegations surfaced earlier in the week that Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) promised to intervene in the case on behalf of the lobbyists, according to published reports in Congressional Quarterly and elsewhere.
Law enforcement officials say the Justice Department may have to dismiss the espionage charges and tell ABC News a review is underway to possibly dismiss the entire case against Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, both former lobbyists for the American-Israeli Political Action Committee.
The main issue surrounds disclosing potential classified information at trial or the "graymail" defense, which involves the assumption that in order for an adequate defense to be made classified, information must be disclosed at trial. Late last February, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the case favorable to the lobbyists' possible defense by allowing some information to be presented at trial the Justice Department deems classified.
The legal wrangling in the case involves the Classified Information Procedures Act known as CIPA. In their Feb. 24 opinion, the 4th circuit noted, "The court, after conducting such a CIPA hearing, determined that a substantial volume of the classified information was indeed relevant and admissible."
In the proceedings which have been ongoing since 2005, when Rosen and Weissman were charged, the government indicated that at trial they intended to introduce a summary of an FBI report which would show that Weismann had passed along information from the report to Israeli officials. The AIPAC defense attorneys also have said they wish to show the same FBI report and show that information in it could have been derived from other sources.
Lawyers for Rosen and Weissman did not return calls or messages left by ABC News. Officials briefed on the deliberations say some in the Justice Department and FBI want to press forward with the case that has been tangled up for years.
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