This is an interesting story that is well put together citing a lot of opinion and circumstancial evidence. However, in the end its claim that McCain was responsible for leaks from the Keating 5 ethics committee proceedings is not conclusive. Moreover, one has to be suspicious of a negative story about an old event that appears a few scant days before an election.

The story faces a situation where the smoking guns have been hidden in the closet, but the allegations are supported from multiple sources. The late breaking of the story adds suspicion, however. The story is consistent with past reports on the Keating scandal, and Republican McCain's involvement in the scandal and the leaks. The allegations are powerful.

This is a hard story to report, because there's no conclusive evidence that McCain was the source of leaks from the Ethics committee hearings during the S&L scandal. Mahtani is somewhat fair, though I think he could have reiterated even more that McCain is legally innocent.

Wow! Mahtani paints a very convincing story with lots of good testimony. Great investigative reporting.