Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap

Roll Call is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed about the NSA wiretap’s that caught Rep. Jane Harman discussing a possible deal with supporters of  two former AIPAC lobbyists charged with espionage:

The National Security Agency briefed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “a few years ago” that they had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Pelosi revealed Wednesday.

But Pelosi said she was not told what federal eavesdroppers picked up on the call — and never alerted Harman to it.

“It was not my position to raise it with Jane Harman,” Pelosi told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor lunch. “In fact, I didn’t even know if what they were talking about was real. All they said was that she was wiretapped.”

It also appears that the Obama Administration is leaning toward dropping the espionage against the former lobbyists, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman:

The U.S. government may abandon espionage-law charges against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel advocacy group, officials said yesterday, as a prominent House lawmaker denied new allegations that she offered to use her influence in their behalf.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) accused the government of an “abuse of power” in wiretapping her conversations, following news reports that she had been recorded in 2006 on FBI wiretaps that officials at the time said raised questions of possible illegal conduct.

Harman’s expression of outrage added a political dimension to the prosecution of the two former lobbyists, who were charged in 2005 under a World War I-era espionage law with conspiring to give national defense information to journalists and Israeli Embassy officials.

With the trial set to begin June 2, the Justice Department is reviewing whether to proceed as planned or withdraw the indictments after a series of adverse court rulings, according to law enforcement sources and lawyers close to the case.

Something about this leak stinks to high heaven but it’s far from the abuse of power that Rep. Harman wants to paint it as… First the NSA doesn’t appear to have been directly targeting Rep. Harman, they had warrants to wiretap the espionage suspects and recorded their conversations — including the conversations they had with Rep. Harman. Second they apparently notified the Speaker of the House of Rep. Harman’s involvement.

Ultimately this may all turn out to be much ado about nothing but for the moment it’s prime political theater in grand Washington style.

Rep. Harman Seeks Release of AIPAC Transcripts

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to release transcripts of her recorded phone conversations:

WASHINGTON – Rep. Jane Harman asked the Justice Department to release transcripts of her recorded conversations following published reports she was caught on tape agreeing to seek leniency for two pro-Israeli lobbyists under investigation for espionage.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder sent Tuesday morning, Ms. Harman, the former top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the eavesdropping on her conversations were an “abuse of power.” The California lawmaker also denied contacting law-enforcement agencies to influence the Bush administration’s investigation.

“Let me be absolutely clear: I never contacted the Department of Justice, the White House or anyone else to seek favorable treatment regarding national security cases on which I was briefed, or any other cases,” she wrote in the letter.

According to the published accounts, first reported by Congressional Quarterly, Ms. Harman appears to agree to push for leniency for the two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in exchange for help gaining the chairmanship of the intelligence committee. The recordings were reportedly made by the National Security Agency. It isn’t clear precisely what the agency was monitoring.

I said yesterday that I thought there was something fishy about this leak and I still do… Most of the allegations in this story were reported by Time Magazine in 2006 and there doesn’t appear to be much of anything new here.

You can read Rep. Harman’s letter here.

Related

• Pelosi: No threat for Harman appointment – Washington Times
• Bush-era CIA officials push back – Laura Rozen, Foreign Policy
• Why the Harman leaks smell to high heaven – Ron Kampeas, JTA.org

Caught on Tape: Jane Harman & AIPAC

If even half of what’s alleged in this Congressional Quarterly report is true Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales have a lot explaining to do:

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

(Join Jeff Stein for a live online chat at 3:30 p.m. today about his story, or submit a question for Jeff.)

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Harman declined to discuss the wiretap allegations, instead issuing an angry denial through a spokesman.

“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a prepared statement. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s true that allegations of pro-Israel lobbyists trying to help Harman get the chairmanship of the intelligence panel by lobbying and raising money for Pelosi aren’t new.

They were widely reported in 2006, along with allegations that the FBI launched an investigation of Harman that was eventually dropped for a “lack of evidence.”

What is new is that Harman is said to have been picked up on a court-approved NSA tap directed at alleged Israel covert action operations in Washington.

And that, contrary to reports that the Harman investigation was dropped for “lack of evidence,” it was Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s top counsel and then attorney general, who intervened to stop the Harman probe.

This stinks to high heaven, not simply because of allegations against Rep. Harman and former AG Gonzales, but because of the unprecedented leak of an NSA wiretap.

That said there’s something fishy about this leak, NSA wiretaps are among the closely guarded, highly secret operations carried out by the federal Government. Even during the Bush years while various elements within the government were conducting a stealth campaign against the Administration’s War on terror policy’s via politically damaging leaks to the New York Times, no NSA wiretaps were released… I can’t help but think whoever leaked this transcript has an agenda and that is some sort of political payback.

Related

• Kos calls on Harman to resign – The Hill Briefing Room Blog
• Harman caught on wiretap bargaining for intervention in espionage case – Hot Air
• A Rahm Bomb for Jane Harman? – American Thinker
• The Harman-AIPAC wiretaps – Michelle Malkin