Politics | 04/20/2009 9:50 am
Sources: Wiretaps Have Rep. Jane Harman Agreeing to Help Israeli Lobbyist
© AP
California Rep. Jane Harman denied this week that she agreed to help a pro-Israeli official in exchange for his help in becoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee, but an NSA wiretap says otherwise, insist sources.
The wiretap, taken in 2006, allegedly has Harman agreeing to lobby on behalf of two American Israeli Public Affairs Committee staffers who were charged with espionage after delivering top-secret Pentagon documents to agents in Israel.
In exchange for her help, the transcript says, the unnamed official told Harman he would ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee. Obviously aware that she was wading into muddy waters, Harman ended the conversation with "this conversation doesn’t exist," according to Congressional Quarterly sources.
Harman told the website, however, that the accusations are entirely untrue: "These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”
Indeed these charges have been brought up in the past, but CQ’s sources added some new information: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales crushed an FBI investigation because he hoped Harman would help convince lawmakers to approve unwarranted wiretappings:
The wiretap, taken in 2006, allegedly has Harman agreeing to lobby on behalf of two American Israeli Public Affairs Committee staffers who were charged with espionage after delivering top-secret Pentagon documents to agents in Israel.
In exchange for her help, the transcript says, the unnamed official told Harman he would ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee. Obviously aware that she was wading into muddy waters, Harman ended the conversation with "this conversation doesn’t exist," according to Congressional Quarterly sources.
Harman told the website, however, that the accusations are entirely untrue: "These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”
Indeed these charges have been brought up in the past, but CQ’s sources added some new information: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales crushed an FBI investigation because he hoped Harman would help convince lawmakers to approve unwarranted wiretappings:
According to two officials privy to the events, Gonzales said he ‘needed Jane’ to help support the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by The New York Times.
Harman, he told [then-CIA Director Porter J. Goss], had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. And although it was too late to stop the Times from publishing now, she could be counted on again to help defend the programOne source described the entire deal as "ethical corruption" and, if it’s true, we agree.
He was right.
On December 21, 2005, in the midst of a firestorm of criticism about the wiretaps, Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, ‘I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.’
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28 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Meant to add as well: Whatever Harmon did or did not do should not obscure the fact that the Bush government was spying on the phone calls of our elected representatives, assumedly without warrants. That is definitely a crime.
The timing of this leak about Harmon should also not be overlooked. Why is this coming out now, just days after the contents of the Bush torture memos were released? Cannot be a coincidence.
Ar you referring to the wiretaps that Obama wants to continue?????
Rudi
Nancy Pelosi is going to have problems of her own because she was aware and was briefed about water boarding and other tactics the CIA and Bush Admin initiated to extract information. What disappoints me is that just when I start to relax a little about all the idiots in Washington, something else gets revealed and it shows how much they enable each other and then point the finger and blame to either gain power or maintain power. I wish politicians did not complicate everything so much.
On another note, the Israeli’s spy on us more than anyone and try to gain more secrets, sad but true.
By the way, there were dribs and drabs of this info coming out for a long time. There are sites that follow the Intelligence Community the you can find out such things. Not much surprises me anymore and I really liked Jane Harmon. I always thought she was a pretty fair person. Wait until more info on Nancy Pelosi starts coming out, I think they are just building their case.
Rudi
I know Harmon was exposed in an NSA wiretap, they were listening in on the Israelis and that is how she got hooked in the net. Pelosi doesn’t like Harmon and has been trying to derail her for a long time. Isn’t Harmon from Orange county, or there abouts. Although a democrat, her district is much more conservative - as she is, and in the past has stood in the way of some legislation that Pelosi didn’t want trouble on. Harmon is more to the middle, but definitely a strong democrat. I don’t know if there was really a deal with Alberto Gonzales, or that Gonzales didn’t bring the Harmon thing out because he didn’t want to blow the cover of spying, or that he wanted her cooperation to vote on the NSA Bill. Lots of people voted on it, as did the president (current). But I do know that Pelosi has sidelined Harmon on more than one occasion.
As to the CIA Memos that have been released, didn’t members of congress ratify the procedures? I seem to recall that they had that big meeting in the WH to go over and brief certain members of the Intelligence committee and a few others. It is interesting how none can remember that and keep pointing fingers at each other.
I haven’t paid attention to it today so am not totally up to speed. The problem with all of this stuff that is coming out is that the gov does not want to blow it’s cover on who it is spying on, or lose the ability to gain the upper hand on t
Harmon represents a district in Los Angeles County that includes ultra-liberal Venice, which is where she lives. The district also includes Palos Verdes, which is where super-rich non-Hollywood types live. PV is also heavily Dem. She ran for governor a few years back but lost in the primaries.
I haven’t followed the ins and outs of it yet either, but I remember being surprised when Harmon lost the chair of Intel. I haven’t heard that there is bad blood between Pelosi and Harmon, but it seemed at the time that there was more to it than just personal matters.
Personally, I don’t care who approved the torture — Republicans and Dems, up to including the speaker and the ex pres and ex vp — everyone involved needs to be held accountable now so that when the next attack comes our leaders won’t lose their moral compasses in the heat of the crisis.
Rudi,
We have a lot of clients in both of those areas. I always thought she was further south because I was campaign manager in a local election and I remember the people we hired to write and publish mailers and handouts also did her work.
The methods of coercion and rendition are going to haunt us for a long time. It is going to be interesting to see what comes of all of it. One thing that bothers me about the whole process of the dems going after the repubs in this way, is that if and when the tables turn, there will countless attempts to go after the Obama administration. Someone will find some legal precedence to go after the Obama Administration. The partisanship and resentment will grow deeper and deeper and stalemate the country once again. Then of course, all of the lawyers and congress members that watch and think I have to do something to protect my ass, so let’s create a few more bureaucracy nightmares that stall the whole system. Resulting in the taxpayers paying for endless investigations that, for the most part, will come to nothing.
The reason it took four days to get the Somali kidnap/hostage of Capt Phillips resolved was that there were 15 levels (chains) (no kidding) of congressional and military bureaucracy that had to deliberate on legality, covering their asses so that no one will come back and say "you shouldn’t have done it that way, now you are under arrest". That is why it took 4 days over a few teenagers. When Capt Phillips first jumped into the water they had a chance but they were still deliberating as to what to do. To me, this is just an example of the morass of asses who will be trying to cover their asses for things to come. (Sorry -LOL)
Buddy, there is just one thing you said that troubles me "so that when the next attack comes" - let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Found an article on Politico.com that talks about the whole Harmon/Pelos/FBI/Gonzales mess. It just gets curiouser and curiouser.
Harman calls out NSA - John Bresnahan and Glenn Thrush - POLITICO.com
Rudi
If you are interested here is some more bologny on it:
Glenn Thrush’s Blog: Hill Intrigue - POLITICO.com
You’re probably thinking about Palos Verdes which is the peninsula south of Venice/LAX/Manhattan Beach etc. There are conservative pockets in there but mainly all of LA County is Dem. I don’t have it in front of me but I think David Drier is the last GOP rep in the entire county of 12 million.
The torture investigation should not be partisan. I think the GOP will damage itself if it stonewalls. This is too big for the usual partisanship.
As a loyal Dem, I’m perfectly willing for leaders in my party to take their lumps, but this would have never happened if Cheney hadn’t willed it so. That’s why he’s out there every day defending himself on Fox News.