Interesting point, "subject of a probe, not a target."
Sincerely asking, is there that much difference?
Another thing I thought about, did Berger more or less assure his own safety, by performing a criminal action in (what seems to be) a blatant way, sure to get caught? In other words, now that he's being criminally investigated, there would be little opportunity to get him unobtrusively out of the picture, a la Ron Brown.
Mr. Brown was planning to blow the whistle, but didn't get a chance to--is Berger safer, now, since there's an investigation out in the press already?
Just a tinfoil thought...
A 'Target' vs. a 'Subject'
What constitutes a "target" and a "subject" when it comes to a federal investigation?
Target
A "target" is a person who is likely to be indicted. The U.S. Attorneys' Manual defines a target as a "person as to whom the prosecutor or the grand jury has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant."
Subject
A "subject" of an investigation is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation, according to the manual. A subject may - or may not - ultimately become a target, legal experts say.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorneys' Manual
We must be wearing the same tinfoil. I just wrote the same basic premise and then went back to read the comments I missed, including yours.