In Watergate, there was a burglary, which is criminal. Given the criminal activity, there was an investigation. Under the innvestigation to a criminal event, some people committed perjury.
The problem here is that, best I have been able to cbble up, there is no clear criminal activity to investigate in the first place. This seems to play solely in the political arena.
I'll be surprized if there is NO proposal for legislation, to criminalize the forgery of any papers that serve to defame a candidate for federal office. That wouldn't stop rumors, lies and deception, but it would stifle the fabrication of corroborating evidence.
That doesn't rule out civil action from the Killians or Gen. Staudt for defamation or slander. CBS would be forced to give up its source and could not hide behind "confidential sources" without incurring contempt of court, since the docs are phonies.
Now that I think about it, this could be exactly why CBS is not referring to the docs as phony, only unverifiable.
---I'll be surprised if there is NO proposal for legislation, to criminalize the forgery of any papers that serve to defame a candidate for federal office. That wouldn't stop rumors, lies and deception, but it would stifle the fabrication of corroborating evidence.---
This is a forgery with attempt to defraud. Fraud does not have to involve money, but can involve an attempt to impede governmental operations or functions. There was a case like this involving campaign fraud in a case in Ohio I believe.
That's enough to get the FBI out asking questions. If persons deny knowledge of this and are later shown to be connected, lying to federal officers will be enough to put them away. The fraud and forgery charges would not even have to be pursued.
A criminal conspiracy to influence a federal election through fraudulent documents, it sounds scary enough to get people singing and denying every which way.