Apparently Rep. Harman was involved in a wiretap scandal and promised to lobby the justice department in regards to two individuals from AIPAC if they would lobby Nancy Pelosi to place Rep. Harman as the head of House Intelligence Committee.
Harman in Quid-Pro-Quo w/Bush DoJ and Aipac
While the information is mostly from 2006, what is new, per CQ Politics is that Rep. Harman's investigation was not dropped due to "lack of evidence" but merely because Alberto Gonzales wanted her to intervene on the Warrantless Wiretapping scandal that was brewing. This explains why she and democrats in general, did not act in the face of the allegations that came out of the NYTimes regarding that program and while she, specifically, came out in full force against the NYTimes story.
Further, this also explains why Rep. Harman did not get a job with the Obama administration in the CIA or elsewhere.
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
Further, what's more interesting is that Harman helped HOLD BACK THE STORY ON THE EVE OF THE 2004 ELECTIONS. (Personally, I think this could have helped Kerry win in 2004)
Harman, he told 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 program
If one wants accountability on Warrantless Wiretapping, this is where things begin. I truly hope the Obama administration is making note of these allegations and hopefully we'll see some action by Eric Holder. But still I would much rather see Rep. Harman kicked out of Congress for such actions, and I would hope Nancy Pelosi would do something about this.
Harman dodged a bullet, say disgusted former officials who have pursued the AIPAC case for years. She was protected by an administration desperate for help.
"It’s the deepest kind of corruption," said a recently retired longtime national security official who was closely involved in AIPAC investigation, "which was years in the making.
"It’s a story about the corruption of government — not legal corruption necessarily, but ethical corruption."
In fairness, Harman denies everything in the story, but with all of the sources being mentioned within the story, I don't know if that is simply believable.
UPDATE: The Rec List. Thank you so Much.
Let's give her a nice call on Monday:
Office Addresses
Washington, DC
2400 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225 8220
Fax: (202) 226 7290
El Segundo
2321 E. Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 3270
El Segundo, CA 90245
Phone: (310) 643 3636
Fax: (310) 643 6445
Wilmington
544 N. Avalon Boulevard, Suite 307
Wilmington, CA 90744
Phone: (310) 549 8282
Fax: (310) 549 8250
UPDATE 2: As despicable as this is. What I think everyone is wondering is why is this information coming out now? I echo what's being said over at TPM about this story. TPM Link (Should be on the left)
Is it pushback from the CIA/NSA, regarding the Torture memos?
Is this why Obama is heading to the CIA for meetings tomorrow?
I agree with TPM, the fact that this story is coming out NOW is interesting.
UPDATE 3: NYTimes Editor Denies the Story here
The Plumline