Harman asks Holder to release full transcripts of her NSA wiretapped conversations.
Harman asks Holder to release full transcripts of her NSA wiretapped conversations.
Yesterday, CQ’s Jeff Stein reported that the NSA has transcripts of a telephone conversation between Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and unnamed Israeli agents. The recordings show Harman offering the Israelis her efforts to lobby the Justice Department to “reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee,” and the Israelis indicating willingness to lobby soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to name Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee. Harman’s office released a statement yesterday denying the report. Today, Harman released a letter she wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder, saying she is “outraged” that the NSA wiretapped her conversations and that Holder should release the full NSA transcripts:
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]t 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,” Harman wrote. “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.”
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But she also not saying that she said she would contact these agencies correct?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pmWiretap smiretap. I want to know why “AIPAC agents” and “espionage” are mentioned in the same sentence. You mean to tell me there are Israeli spys operating in the US?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pmJuan Cole on Harman’s cleverness:
Harman is denying it all, of course. But then so did Rosen and Weissman deny it all (or allege that the lack of a US official secrets act means that their passing of a classified Pentagon document to a Mossad agent was not in fact treason or illegal). Harman’s denial is clever, since the NSA wiretap is presumably classified, and so she can’t be contradicted until the document is released.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:33 pmI don’t trust her or Di-Fi.
SSDP
April 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pmSame Shit, Different Party
Just gotta’ love those Zionists, always working both sides of everything.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:37 pmAnd Jane, you are a corrupt hag and probably know full well that the transcripts won’t be released because of natl. security…..nice bluff, though.
Again, look up the testimony from the 9/11 Commission regarding the Arab/Palestinian connection to the attacks in NYC and DC.
Somehow, the quotes are missing from the final draft…
Silly Jews, always deflecting responsibility by crying “anti-Semite”.
Aren’t they just so cute!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:38 pmBush level word parsing from the blue team.
I want to know what Jane knew about torture as a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. How complicit was Congress in the Bush torture machine?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pmUm, hello…. she was in conversations with Israeli spies! Isn’t that treason?
Oh, I forgot, no such thing as treason anymore, now that one can uncover the identity of a CIA agent and get away with it.
Plus, it’s Israel, the small little country that could not survive without our aid, and who has us by the balls.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pmShe just got caught and now she’s outraged because she got caught. Pelosi and Feinstein will be next as their backroom deals will come to light. At lease we know the Bush Administration didn’t want to spy on terrorist or regular Americans. Wiretapps were used to spy on Law Makers to blackmail them and of couse businesses to take over. Cheney did a good job as wiretapping, fixing the Judges he needed in the court and hireing some of the dumbest druggie Lawyers. Anyone know if Gonzo has found a job yet?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:42 pmGood point, AIO. She knows full well that she’ll be taking no for an answer.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:42 pmAnyone know if Gonzo has found a job yet?
The reality.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:45 pmAIPAC is the root of our problems in America.
They are the biggest little secret on the planet.
This is the same group that supplied white phosphorus to Israel to help create suffering among the wounded.
Someone should study the connection between Wolf Blitzer and
AIPAC.
Or at least watch how he downplays this story if he even mentions it.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:46 pmOnce again Janey is just another pol who proves they are liars, hypocrites and thieves…NSA Spying is ok as long as it’s done to someone else…
Unless it shows that I’m a lying F^ck.
No, I only made an illegal deal to do so and then said “This conversation doesn’t exist.”
Screw you Harman, you’re a liar and you should be removed from office.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pmNow that the Bush wiretapping violations have become personal, maybe the Democrats in Congress will be motivated to start an investigation into Bush-era abuses of power.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pmBusted and now the c v n t starts to screech!!!!!
Too late b e o t c h!!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm” Say it ain’t so, Jane”. Come on people we all know this phone conversation never really took place. We’ll just have to wait until Jane leaves the synagogue and has a chance to set the record straight. Shalom!!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pmThis is about the rule of law. I think we can be fairly certain that if Jane Harmon was tapped then other members of Congress were also tapped. These taps are supposed to be approved by a court. My guess is that none of that happened. Obama must step up to the plate and prosecute those breaking the law. I understand the desire to not look backwards but there are too many egregous crimes out there not to prosecute. Otherwise there will be no deterrance. What I think we learned is that we went to easy on Nixon era crimes so we simply had round two under Bush.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm” Say it ain’t so, Jane”. Come on people we all know this phone conversation never really took place. We’ll just have to wait until Jane leaves the synagogue and has a chance to set the record straight. Shalom!!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pmThis 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.
Hmmm, so it is an outrage when an unsuspecting Congress person is spied on but it is okay for the general public?????
Please, one set of lawful rules for everyone, not just those that believe they are above the law.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:54 pmThere are 3 women in the Congress that are standing in the way of progress. They are Nancy PollLoser, Jane “No Shame” Harman and Diane Feinstein the traitor extraordinaire!
Are they Israelis or Americans?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pmI think NSA should release this transcript and clear Ms.Harman of it can rather then keep her under a cloud.
This spying on congress and some of the senators is no surprise to millions of us. We have said over the last several years, it was probably going on. Spying is what they do. Nixon did it. Hoover did it. And when it was allowed to go unchecked, it was inevitable that it would be done again. This is why we now face the same thing. If no one is ever held accountable there are no standards to uphold. No punishment for breaking the law. Our chickens have really come home to roost now.
Micheal Hayden who is having such a fit regarding these things being made public is laughable. He is the man that argued with a reporter regarding the 4th amendment, which he never understood. The 4th clearly says there must be PROBABLE CAUSE TO SPY OR TO GET A WARRANT. Mr. Hayden claimed it was reasonable cause. He didn’t even know the very law the agency was breaking. And there is a big difference between probable and reasonable. One demands more proof then the other.
The real story here is Alberto Gonzales. This mountain of ineffectual, marginal legal intelligence. This legal and political hack broke the law again. He used what he thought he MIGHT have on this woman, to get an illegal bill passed. He was able with all the power of the criminal enterprise that was Bush, to quell an investigation. He did it for the most base of reasons. Political leverage.
There seems to be no end to the continual ongoing illegalities of the Bush crime family. Here is irony for you. This congress was willing to throw our Constitutional rights under the bus for expediency. EXCEPT WHEN IT CAME TO THEIR RIGHTS AS POLITICIANS. Their right to privacy etc. Now their is this outcry missing before. Don’t you just love it?
Gonzales of course should be disbarred. Although I cannot help wondering how he was able to pass the bar exam? Who took it for him? And he should sit in jail till he rots. A real punishment would be that he were tied to a chair and made to listen to Bush and Cheney all day.
With Yoo as a teacher of law at Berkeley, and this judge Bilbye or whatever his name is, and Gonzales as representing the law, it makes you wonder. What kind of law schools are graduating men of such questionable character and such contempt for the cannons of their profession?
This so called country of laws is very nearly sinking. Sinking under the weight of legal corruption.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:03 pmWasen’t Jane Harmon in a little spat with Palosi when Palosi was getting the nod for speaker of the off the table for criminals?.. They are so much alike I forgot..Blessings
April 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pmI 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.
How does that square with your co sponsorship of a bill , the violent radicalization and homegrown terrorist act that would have done to every American citizen what you are outraged over happening to you Jane ?
April 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pmI wasn’t aware spies qualified as constituents unless you count the rep from Langley. She is just another scumbag selling out to the highest bidder!
April 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pmPerhaps Jane can be arrested pre emptively as she would have condoned for the average citizen in her little bill .
April 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pmI’m shocked I tell you, shocked to learn that George w. Bush was wiretapping Democrats!
John Kerry are you listening?
April 21st, 2009 at 1:28 pmshe’s being evasive. my guess, she’s full of shit and guilty.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:30 pmShe’s got no grounds for complaining about the fact she was tapped:
1) They had a warrant for the taps from a real judge and everything
2) They informed Congressional leadership, as required for separation of powers protocols
This wasn’t a “warrantless wiretap” situation, and is completely unrelated to Bush’s GWOT crap.
However, if she wants the transcripts released then there’s either nothing there or she’s getting ready to go full Blago on us.
.
KaneJeeves Says:
You mean to tell me there are Israeli spys operating in the US?
Also, the sky is blue.
.
citizen_pain Says:
Um, hello…. she was in conversations with Israeli spies! Isn’t that treason?
She was conversing with pro-Israeli lobbyists. That’s not treason, whether they were also spies or not. It’s not treason for her to push for pro-Israel legislation, nor is it treason for AIPAC to lobby for her promotion. However if any quid-pro-quo discussion connects those two situations, then we have a problem.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pmhp Says:
typical democrat apologist……
Yeah, how dare the Democrats force Bush to wiretap them… wait, what?
April 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pmThe former Soviet state of Lithuania is now an independent democratic country. But it still retains some vestiges of Stalinism. Lithuania’s citizens must obtain a police permit to buy a gun. All guns are registered with the government. Somehow these restrictions are not deterring the criminal element; Lithuania has an unenviable murder rate of 11.7.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:10 pmsorry wrong thread
April 21st, 2009 at 2:11 pmand wrong premise too!
Canada’s gun laws are very restrictive and their murder rate is one third this country’s.
Next!
April 21st, 2009 at 2:13 pmMs Harman must think we’re stupid. She didn’t deny the conversation took place (to us, anyway). She only denied that she carried through with her end of the deal she made. In that conversation that never took place.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:14 pmLMAO…isn’t it always?
April 21st, 2009 at 2:15 pmThis will not be thoroughly investigated, questioned, or reported on by the so-called mainstream media, hell even FAUX NOISE didnt do its usual FAUX ALERT last night (I know I just wanted to see how they were gonna spin it).
As others have stated, Mrs. Harman knows that the transcripts are classified and will not be made public, she wasn’t ranking member for nothing so she knows that.
Well looks as though she’ll have a career on FAUX NOISE after this for being the good Soldier.
RIP
April 21st, 2009 at 2:16 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
Hey, hp, when your car is broken do you blow it up to fix it?
April 21st, 2009 at 3:04 pmPersonally, I dont think Harman should be lobbying the DOJ…
April 21st, 2009 at 3:06 pm“Let me be absolutely clear,” Harman wrote. “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.”
She never said that Bush’s DOJ didn’t contact her to blackmail her….
April 21st, 2009 at 3:14 pm“Harman asks Holder to release full transcripts of her NSA wiretapped conversations.”
Interesting..Harman wants Holder to release the entire transcripts of the NSA wiretapped conversations [which of course is a national security concern] yet there was a warrant to wiretap her conversation. Harman is outrage that SHE had been spying on yet not a majority of those same lawmakers didn’t fight and protect the millions of U.S. citizens that were wiretapped without a warrant by the NSA.
What I like to know is why did the Bush DOJ dropped the case of the alleged Harman-AIPAC quid pro quo call probe.
April 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm“Let me be absolutely clear,” Harman wrote. “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.”
That doesn’t mean you didn’t bring the subject up after they contacted you about something else first.
Remember, Ms. Harman, some of us are good at picking out ambiguities in official statements. We’ve had to learn after the last sixteen years.
(And before my liberal friends jump all over me, you know perfectly well how carefully Clinton chose his words. And we all know the perfect example of him doing just that.)
April 21st, 2009 at 3:44 pmWhat I like to know is why did the Bush DOJ dropped the case of the alleged Harman-AIPAC quid pro quo call probe.
Wasn’t it because Gonzales said he “needed Jane” to get Bush’s policies passed?
April 21st, 2009 at 3:46 pm<emCanada’s gun laws are very restrictive and their murder rate is one third this country’s.
Let me clear your comment….As a Canadian citizen I can tell you are muder rate for the past five years has been in the range of about 500 + or – per year. We have a population of 32million.
IF i’m not mistaken, the US has well over 1500 murders per year. IF I’m not mistaken, 1500 murders is what LA gets in one year. Therefore our (Canada)murder rate is nowhere near one third of the US. Lets get the facts straight folks.
If the US had gun registration, those three police officers in Pittsburgh would not be dead. The officers would on know this man had registard a automatic weapon. Peace to the brave, the men in blue!!!!!
>
April 21st, 2009 at 4:07 pmWTF is that supposed to mean dumbass? You are even more incoherent than usual.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:20 pmWasn’t it because Gonzales said he “needed Jane” to get Bush’s policies passed?
That is correct from the CQ article. What I meant to say is to release the information of the Bush DOJ on why Harman’s case was dropped and the hard evidence of Gonzo playing the role into Harman’s case being dropped.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:50 pmspearNmagicHelmet Says:
she’s being evasive. my guess, she’s full of shit and guilty.
Agree entirely.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Let’s see her cards.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:54 pmShouldn’t people who work with foreign spies be tried for treason? The Zionists are America’s biggest enemy.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:19 pmAre we sure this is not Lieberman in drag?
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 amWiretap irony: Rep. Harman’s husband makes the best audio recording equipment in the world.
See
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/audio-irony/
April 24th, 2009 at 7:47 am