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One of the leading House Democrats on intelligence matters was overheard on telephone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency agreeing to seek lenient treatment from the Bush administration for two pro-Israel lobbyists who were under investigation for espionage, current and former government officials say.
The lawmaker, Representative Jane Harman of California, became the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee after the 2002 election and had ambitions to be its chairwoman when the party gained control of the House in 2006. One official who has seen transcripts of several wiretapped calls said she appeared to agree to intercede in exchange for help in persuading party leaders to give her the powerful post.
It is not clear exactly when the wiretaps occurred; they were first reported by Congressional Quarterly on its Web site.
The official with access to the transcripts said someone seeking help for the employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group, was recorded asking Ms. Harman, a longtime supporter of its efforts, to intervene with the Justice Department…In return, the caller promised her that a wealthy California donor — the media mogul Haim Saban — would threaten to withhold campaign contributions to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who was expected to become House speaker after the 2006 election, if she did not select Ms. Harman for the intelligence post…
Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman were fired from Aipac in March 2005 and indicted a few weeks later. They were charged with violating the World War I-era Espionage Act when they shared with colleagues, journalists and Israeli Embassy officials information about Iran and Iraq they had learned from talking to high-level United States policy makers.
I trust Cylon Centurions more than most politicians
This blog-post does not exist.
Why would the NSA say anything? They don’t usually divulge stuff like this. I smell b.s.
Today Harman demanded that the recordings be publicly released. Smart move.
tsk tsk
I have always said it before and still say it here, Israel is always a threat not only for the US but the whole world peace. All these terrorist activities going on in this world today is because of Israeli policies against innocent people.
The quicker the Americans get rid of this parasite called Israel, the better for America.
Representative Harman was the most qualified individual to chair the committee, based on experience and knowledge. She had no reason to try and improve her chances since most people thought she would receive the post. Nancy Pelosi was responsible for handing the chair to someone less qualified due to some personal grudge and I’ll bet Pelosi is behind this “leak” as well.
#5, watch it, you’re going to find yourself labeled an anti-semite if you keep talking that way. Probably a holocaust denier too.
The sooner people who are supposed to be citizens of this country ditch their loyalties to another because of common practice of silly rituals to please an invisible man, the better we will be.
RTFA. The Congressional Quarterly sniffed this out. They haven’t hardly any patrons in Congress – just because they publish tales like this.
Go, NSA.
Democrats make republicans look like preschoolers when it comes to corruption.
Cylons . . . love it!
That being said:
Democrats and Republicans caught in the same scandal? Say it ain’t so!
It’s almost like they are the same party . . .
#10
The sooner that you realize that the “us vs them” fight you should be fighting is not dem vs repub but the rich and powerful vs the common man the sooner things will start to improve
A California Democrat is an Bush Whitehouse insider?
This story doesn’t pass the sniff test.
>> cornholer
>> Democrats make republicans look like preschoolers when it comes to corruption.
Back this claim up with some evidence, please.
If Jane Harman were a Republican, they’d be giving her a standing-O.
This whole thing has been confirmed by various sources. Harmon has not denied the conversation took place, if you read her denials carefully.
Also, Harmon pressured the NYT not to release the wire tapping report, and the report was in fact delayed.
There is no “sniff test” about it.
The reporter who broke the story said he had been sitting on it for some time and was just able to pull everything together. There was no ‘timed’ leak.
The comments on this blog are some of the worst I have ever read. If you don’t have anything knowledgeable to say don’t say anything, boobs.
I’m curious what her stance on illegal wiretaps and the ongoing court case was before this happened. She was just on NPR and was very supportive of FISA and warrants. Politicians are very in favor of the peoples rights when its their neck in the noose.
That said, shes innocent till proven guilty. Lets see the evidence.
From RawStory.com:
The New York Times confirmed late Monday that a top Democratic congresswoman called the paper in 2004 and tried to keep it from publishing an article exposing the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program — possibly helping to sway the balance in the 2004 presidential election.
…
In addition, “Shortly before the article was published more than a year later, in December 2005, Mr. Taubman met with a group of Congressional leaders familiar with the eavesdropping program, including Ms. Harman. They all argued that The Times should not publish,” they Times reporters added.
with out the facts we got nothing
Pelosi wins her elections by some thing like 70 to 80% it’s San Francisco her seat is as safe as they come with or with out Haim Saban money. This story smells funny. Demanded that the recordings be publicly released is a smart move lets here the evidence. To bad that didn’t help Stevens we all heard him sounding like he knew how guilty he was even though he got out of it.
As to the reporter who broke the story as long as you have your facts right WTG keep up the investigating of our representatives no matter which party. Lets find the source of this funny smell. If Harman is found guilty take her down, if not find out why her name is being dragged through the mud.
Funny how Republicans are guilty until proven guilty but Democrats are always innocent, no questions asked.
Gee! My Congresswoman AND my senior Senator both caught on the take in one day!
Fortunately, like Foghorn Leghorn, I always keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency.
And of course, I never voted for either of them.
I’m a bit confused as to what the story here is. Is it that the Representative was caught, that the Israelis were caught or that the government is monitoring other parts of the government?
# 14 Greg Allen said, “Back this claim up with some evidence, please.”
You funny Greg. You slunk away from that same challenge on a thread yesterday.
Go home.
#7 – You are correct, sir.
– “inadvertently” swept up by N.S.A
HA! this stuff makes me laugh.
..just subterfuge to produce
desired results and misdirection..
short memories anyone?
since all US phone (&billing) data is routed through
an israeli owned company(s) and the lions share of surveillance, (taps) and security equipment the NSA, FBI (and many other countries) use, is in fact, manufactured and designed by israeli companies, (what, nobody remembers Comverse Technology / Comverse Infosys, its subsidiaries and the shady crap they’re linked to?)
i’d say this was leaked by your friendly neighborhood moussad -or maybe rahmmi, take
your pick. :p
think about what industry would be perfect to infiltrate to gain intel on a mass scale so as to manipulate the planet’s pitbull into “conflicts of interest” -not to mention the supreme insider information it yields..
there is plenty of “prior art” in the MSM.
we’re not israel’s lapdog because we
want to be, you know.
viva la Puppets! *sigh*
-s
The US gives Israel billions to exist (because God gave them their land?) and they turn some of that loot around and use it to bribe Congress for more. And members of Congress expect it. This should be labeled as MONEY LAUNDERING. Just cleverly disguised as “lobbying”. And these so-called wealthy jewish moguls, who are subverting the US democratic system of government, for their own foreign political agendas. Ought to be charged with treason and imprisoned. Deporting them is too good for them. They just go off to their Promised Land, and subvert from there.
If the US government is really so big about the Separation of Church and State principle. Not to mention taking the atheist position, quite often. Then why are they still pumping money into this foreign State, basis solely on its claim that their version of God, declared it was their land. And remember, they had virtually abandoned it for centuries, after it once got too hot for them to stay. Not until post-WW2, did they get the political support to reclaim parts of it. And they’ve been causing wars over this tiny piece of near worthless land, ever since. It’s a mad religious obsession, that’s threatening to take everyone else with it. Meanwhile China swallowed up Tibet, and hardly nobody (the UN or US) even blinked. And the religion and philosophy of that land, has probably done more to promote world peace, than any modern jewish state has. But the whole just let the commies gobble up Tibet. Probably thinking they’d put an end to that religion, along with its people.
#22, Cow-Patty,
What? You can’t back up a story? For shame !!!
Asshole
Is this a Jane Harmon corruption scandal
or is this a Bush administration spying scandal?
This certainly is proof the administration was spying on Democratic leadership and not just terrorists.
Paddy-O,
I didn’t “slink” away from anything. I honestly don’t even know what you referring too. Do you know me to “slink” from anything even if you’re sure I’m wrong? I just missed the challenge.
But, c’mon after eight years of one SUBSTANTIVE scandal after another — too many to even remember — it’s a huge stretch to claim that the democrats are far worse!
Many of the GOP/Bush scandals challenged there very constitutional underpinning of our nation. Others were just about shameless avarice and moral turpitude.
The original poster’s claim that Dems are FAR WORSE merits at least an explanation rather than a declaration.
And so you don’t call me a hypocrite: here is a short list just from BUSH’S FIRST TERM:
1. Memogate: The Senate Computer Theft
2. Doctor Detroit: The DOJ’s Bungled Terrorism Case
3. Dark Matter: The Energy Task Force
4. The Indian Gaming Scandal
5. Halliburton’s No-Bid Bonanza
6. Halliburton: Pumping Up Prices
7. Halliburton’s Vanishing Iraq Money
8. The Halliburton Bribe-apalooza
9. Halliburton: One Fine Company
10. Halliburton’s Iran End Run
11. Money Order: Afghanistan’s Missing $700 Million Turns Up in Iraq
12. Iraq: More Loose Change
13. The Pentagon-Israel Spy Case
14. Gone to Taiwan
15. Wiretapping the United Nations
16. The Boeing Boondoggle
17. The Medicare Bribe Scandal
18. Tom DeLay’s PAC Problems
19. Tom DeLay’s FAA: Following Americans Anywhere
20. In the Rough: Tom DeLay’s Golf Fundraiser
21. Busy, Busy, Busy in New Hampshire
22. The Medicare Money Scandal
23. The Bogus Medicare “Video News Release”
24. Pundits on the Payroll: The Armstrong Williams Case
25. Ground Zero’s Unsafe Air
26. John Ashcroft’s Illegal Campaign Contributions
27. Intel Inside … The White House
28. Duck! Antonin Scalia’s Legal Conflicts
29. AWOL
30. Iraq: The Case for War
31. Niger Forgeries: Whodunit?
32. In Plame Sight
33. Abu Ghraib
34. Guantánamo Bay Torture?
http://tinyurl.com/6zmml
Jews pledge allegiance to Israel first.