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The wages of wiretapping
Balloon Juice —
... 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.
It’s a kooky story—it was one of those controversial (read: probably illegal) NSA wiretaps and Gonzo supposedly used this to blackmail Harman into supporting more wiretaps.
JMM and other people who understand all this better than I do have more on ...
Our Brains Hurt. Please Stand By.
Hoffmania! —
... Josh looks at the tangled web known as the Jane Harmon Wiretap Affair. It's truly head-spinning.
Harmangate!
Corrente —
Interesting times:
(TPM link)
So, as far as I can tell, Rep. Jane Harman [D-Ca] was conspiring with the Israelis to drop some spy charges in exchange for some lobbying on her behalf, and Alberto Gonzales had an NSA warrantless wiretap™ (wait for it) on her phone and overheard the deal.
In exchange for not investigating, Gonzales asked her to attack the NYT's exposé on (wait for it) NSA warrantless wiretapping. The one she had personally requested be held back until before the 2004 election (Department of With Democrats Like These, anyone?)
And so ...
A Hard Breaking Work of Staggering Non-Geniuses
Firedoglake —
... R. Gonzales, who intervened to stop the investigation.
5. Gonzales intervened because he wanted Harman to defend the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about break in The New York Times.
6. And she promptly went out and defended it.
So as you can see the circle is complete. Caught on an NSA wiretap, Congressperson is saved, so as to defend illegal NSA wiretapping.
Which one of these revelations is the worst? And why now?
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Early Morning Swim
Firedoglake —
... Bush's great victory is the gift that keeps giving.
266 and 183.
Alberto Holder?
A wiretapping scandal?
The Obama Doctrine, in a nutshell.
Uh, John Ensign? Dude, get a grip.
Columbine, 10 years later.
The Village debates torture.
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Josh Marshall on AIPAC and NSA Tapes
TPMCafe —
Josh has the story. Feel free to comment here.
I wonder if this breathes life into the prosecution at the Rosen trial.
And I wonder if the administration is letting this story fly now to further weaken Netanyahu as he prepares for his May 18 meeting with Obama. Obama aleady held 51 cards in his dealings with Bibi. He just picked up the last one.
A gathering storm or a tempest in a teapot?
Israel Matzav —
... Department’s prosecutors to get away with ignoring the clear words of the statute. Finally, since no one in the Justice Department has the guts to stop this, it probably will continue on to trial in late May. The government will lose, and the burden which will fall on subsequent prosecutions under the Espionage Act is so substantial that in effect we will be without the means to punish those who (unlike Rosen and Weissman) actually do engage in espionage on U.S. soil. Josh Marshall raises a number of questions about the case as well. Among the many questions the story raises ...
Walking and Chewing Gum
Talking Points Memo —
... In my comments on the Harman story, you'll see I'm giving probably as much focus to the hows and whys of the government's role surveilling Harman as I am to what she's accused of. So let me early on make this point clear -- one issue does override or trump the significance of the other. I think both are critical. And I think it's deeply important to keep that fact in mind. ...
Gonzales Stopped FBI Probe Of Rep. Harman Because He ‘Needed Jane’ To Support Warrantless Wiretapping
Think Progress —
... Update Josh Marshall and Glenn Greenwald have more.
Harman under attack: promised to intervene for AIPAC
PoliGazette —
... TPM calls the story “radioactive,” which is the understatement of the century, especially because the story “ ...
Rep. Harmon Recorded Making Deal With Israeli Agents
Pirate's Cove —
... And she tried. If true, this goes beyond normal politics, and into the realm of blackmail. The ends do not justify the means, even in trying to get the Grey Lady to not publish the story. The investigation into Harmon’s conduct should have gone forth. Yes, sometimes distasteful things must be done in the name of national security, but not dismissing what could have been a criminal investigation.
Of course, many of the Usual Useful Idiots are questioning the timing, failing to understand the most basic way the NSA would gather ...
Rep. Harmon Recorded Making Deal With Israeli Agents
Stop The ACLU —
... Program. And she tried. If true, this goes beyond normal politics, and into the realm of blackmail. The ends do not justify the means, even in trying to get the Grey Lady to not publish the story. The investigation into Harmon’s conduct should have gone forth. Yes, sometimes distasteful things must be done in the name of national security, but not dismissing what could have been a criminal investigation. Of course, many of the Usual Useful Idiots are questioning the timing , failing to understand the most basic way the NSA would gather intelligence, including ...
The Harman story
Ben Smith's Blog —
... It's hard to know, without the full transcript, what exactly happened. And the great irony of the story as reported, as Josh Marshall notes, is that Alberto Gonzalez allegedly got Harman off the hook in exchange for her support for ... wiretapping. ...
Must-Reads at TPM
The Mahablog —
... I don’t have time to comment, but I want to be sure y’all see these — first, read about Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) who allegedly got caught by an NSA wiretap working out a quid pro quo with a “suspected Israeli agent.” As Josh Marshall says, the allegations against Rep. Harman are extremely serious. But one also must ask why member of Congress was being wiretapped by the NSA. ...
Caught In The AIPAC, Ctd.
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Josh Marshall has some questions for Rep. Jane Harman: High on my list would be finding out more about the circumstances under which a member of Congress ended up having her phone conversations recorded by the NSA. The article suggests it was a by-the-books wiretap -- part of a highly-classified probe of Israeli agents in the US, which led to the indictments of two AIPAC employees -- and not one of the 'warrantless' ones. But we've seen so much funny business on that front that I'm not sure that's enough information. ...
Unpacking The AIPAC Story
JustOneMinute —
... . Now, the first question on people's minds seems to be, was this wiretap legal? Folks with basic reading skills will notice this, from the CQ story: Josh Marshall notes that passage but is not inclined to believe everything he reads, so let's use our imaginations. How exactly would this story have unfolded if the wiretap on which Harman was picked up was not legal? Would Gonzales have needed to quash this? Would the Justice Department have needed a reminder that maybe they can't go to trial against a US Congressman when the primary evidence is not admissible? If there ...
Rep. Harman Wiretap Scandal
The Democratic Daily —
... The blogosphere is abuzz with this story today and as Josh Marshall said earlier, “it’s hard to know which of fifty different directions to go with it.” That said, here’s a look at some of the directions this story is going in on both sides of the aisle in the blogosphere: ...
CapHill Round-Up: 4/20/09
ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society —
... . CQ Politics reports that Harman 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 a strong proponent of President Bush’s domestic wiretapping program. ...
Open Harman-AIPAC Thread
Shakesville —
Memeorandum has everything you ever wanted to know about the Rep. Jane Harmon-AIPAC-court approved wiretap story, though, if you want one-stop shopping, I recommend this post at Think Progress, and/or Josh Marshall's summary here. It's tough to even know where to begin with this thing. My immediate response is that it's yet another indication of the profound corruption endemic to so much of our federal government; I suspect if it were all revealed to its ugly core at once, even the most cynical among us would be irrevocably appalled. Have at it in ...
4/20: The Past Is Never Past
Blogometer —
Conservative bloggers ( Malkin , Hinderaker , Huston , Liebau , Klein ) are outraged that Obama had a friendly interaction with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas . Liberal bloggers ( Marshall , Attaturk , Serwer , DougJ ) are buzzing about a new CQ article alleging that Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was caught on wiretap promising favors to a suspected Israeli agent. Several lefty bloggers ( BooMan , O'Connor ) are demanding that a progressive candidate ...
Harman: I Never Contacted DOJ On AIPAC Case
TPMMuckraker —
... Rep. Jane Harman's office has released a statement in response to CQ's report that the congresswoman was heard on an NSA wiretap telling an "Israeli agent" that she would press the Justice Department to ease up on the AIPAC spy case in return for help for political help. ...
Tortured Explanation
Swampland —
... Harman: It is being reported that Jane Harman was caught on an NSA wiretap, offering to try to obtain easier treatment of two Jewish-American lobbyists who had been caught in a minor espionage case in return for support (from AIPAC, presumably) for appointment as chair of the House Intelligence Committee. I'm not sure that's illegal--sounds like the sort of horse-trading that goes on all time, but--if true--it is disgraceful. (And it would be nice to know the name of the "Israeli agent" who was her correspondent.) I've been an admirer of Harman's. I think she ...
Suspicious Mind
The Reaction —
... you've got ready-made campaign slogans, should you think it a good move to run against Harman (like "Did Jane Harman help throw the 2004 election to Bush?") Hit it, Elvis! Elvis Presley - Suspicious Mind Lots Of Links To Wade Through Josh Marshall: Must Read Ryan Singel - Harman: It's ...
