The questions keep piling up in the Harman story. The most galling aspect for Democrats and for those of us who've followed the warrantless wiretapping story is the confirmation that she helped spike the NYT wiretapping story, and perhaps the 2004 election.
As for the influence peddling part of the story--the part where there might be actual criminality--Harman is vehement in her self-defense, and has written to AG Holder, demanding release of the tapes:
April 21, 2009
Dear General Holder:
I am outraged to learn from reports leaked to the media over the last several days that the FBI or NSA secretly wiretapped my conversations in 2005 or 2006 while I was Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee.
This abuse of power is outrageous and I call on your Department to release all transcripts and other investigative material involving me in an unredacted form. It is my intention to make this material available to the public.
I also urge you to take appropriate steps to investigate possible wiretapping of other Members of Congress and selective leaks of investigative material which can be used for political purposes. As you know, it is entirely appropriate to converse with advocacy organizations and constituent groups, and I am concerned about a chilling effect on other elected officials who may find themselves in my situation.
Let me be absolutely clear: I never contacted the Department of Justice, the White House or anyone else to seek favorable treatment regarding the national security cases on which I was briefed, or any other cases. You may be aware that David Szady, the FBI's former top counterintelligence official, is quoted in the media saying of me "...in all my dealings with her, she was always professional and never tried to intervene or get in the way of any investigation."
Sincerely,
JANE HARMAN
For more on whether these were NSA or FBI wiretaps, see Ambinder. The NYT reports today that "in law enforcement circles, views were mixed about whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal inquiry into the conversations." So we have contradicting stories. The CQ story that says that Justice was ready to go forward with an official criminal inquiry until Gonzales intervened, and the NYT report that seems to walk that back.
Then there's this:
A former senior U.S. intelligence officer said he heard during work on the Hill in the 2004 time period of whispers among members of the intelligence committees and their staffs that Harman was allegedly caught up in some Israel-related case that would likely prevent her from getting the chairmanship of the committee she sought. He also said that it was clear that Goss and Harman (and their staffs) fiercely disliked each other.
But he wondered if the timing of this story was about changing the subject, from what Bush-era officials had authorized, to what the Congress was complicit in. "Is this about taking pressure off the revelations of waterboarding and the memos?" he speculated. "And the fact," he added, "that no real intelligence came out of this whole effort?" referring to the enhanced interrogation/torture regime revealed in the memos, which he said produced no actionable intelligence.
(For his part, Stein said in an online chat Monday afternoon that he had had the story for a while, and only decided to move on it now.)
But the former intelligence official familiar with the matter noted that Goss has given only one on-the-record interview on these CIA controversies since leaving the CIA director job. In the December 2007 interview, he said that Congressional leaders including Representatives Pelosi and Harman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), had been briefed on CIA waterboarding back in 2002. "Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing," Goss told the Washington Post. "And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement."
Who was the lone person the article identified as objecting to the program?
Jane Harman.
Given that the questions just keep piling up, Holder should release all of these tapes. The more information the better, particularly if the knowledge that members of Congress have been spied on spurs more conversions like Harman's on warrantless wiretapping. If this is what it takes to get some investigation of Bush wiretapping, as Harman says, bring it on.
Update: drational also explores some of these questions in his recommended diary.
