Rumor-killing: Nathan Deal's attorney labels talk of indictment 'absurd'

Deal's attorney, Randy Evans, called the report "absurd." He said there had been no communication between the governor's staff and the U.S. Attorney's office, and noted that there are typically back-channel talks if criminal charges are really in the works.

"We've heard nothing from anyone," he said. "There's no objective evidence of this, and I'm confident that it would be something I would have heard. There's been nothing."

Evans added: "I've represented a fair share of folks who have been investigated, and we hear from investigators. That's why this doesn't make any sense."

We haven't heard back yet from several federal authorities we contacted today, but will update if and when we do.

Federal authorities have poked around state offices before. The AJC reported in December 2013 that at least five current and former state ethics officials were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in search of documents related to the agency's probe of Deal's 2010 campaign.

Questions about that probe swirled throughout his re-election campaign after a memo surfaced in July that raised questions about whether Deal's staff improperly interfered with the investigation. Deal cast it as a personnel matter and defended his aides, who said they had done nothing wrong.

Voters elected Deal to a second-term in November, and even some leading Democrats said they were skeptical of the report, doubting any significant development so soon after Deal's victory. There's another reason Deal's allies say an indictment is unlikely.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, north Georgia's top federal prosecutor, was tapped by President Barack Obama to the No. 2 post of the Justice Department. And she would need hefty GOP support in the newly-Republican controlled Senate next year to get confirmed.

Update: Both LiberalAmerica.org and DailyKos removed their posts alleging the pending indictment shortly after this piece was published.