A scandalous storm continues to build around Democratic lawmaker Jane Harman, whom the NSA caught on tape agreeing to help two Israeli lobbyists accused of espionage in exchange for political help.

Though the CIA found Harman’s conversation egregious enough to inform congressional officials, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told CIA Director Porter Goss to hold off on spreading word. Why? Because Gonzales needed Harman’s help in squashing a New York Times story on the NSA’s illegal wiretapping program, for which she was meant to help build Congressional support. In addition, Mr. Gonzales apparently wanted to keep Harman in the dark so that the FBI could take a look at the matter without tipping her off, say anonymous officials to The New York Times:

But Mr. Gonzales’s principal motive in delaying a briefing for Congressional leaders, the person said, was to keep Ms. Harman from learning of the investigation before she could be interviewed by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A spokesman for Ms. Harman said the congresswoman had never been interviewed by the bureau.

The former officials, the spokesman and the person familiar with Mr. Gonzales’s account all insisted on anonymity, saying that the issues surrounding the government wiretaps were too sensitive to discuss publicly.

More than that, CIA officials allegedly provided Harman with talking points she was meant to use in pressuring the Times into not publishing the aforementioned wiretap story. A spokesman from Harman’s office says they have "absolutely no recollection of any talking points for a phone call that took place five years ago."