[Winstonm]

From an article by Daniel Luban date 4-21-09:

Quote

Rep. Jane Harman of California was recorded in 2005 on a National Security Administration (NSA) wiretap promising a suspected Israeli agent that she would intervene on behalf of two AIPAC staffers accused of passing classified information to the Israeli government, and her interlocutor responded by promising to help get Harman appointed to a top congressional intelligence post, according to an article published Sunday by Congressional Quarterly (CQ).

Perhaps even more notably, then-attorney general Alberto Gonzales later halted an FBI investigation of Harman’s actions because of Harman’s political value as a defender of the George W. Bush administration’s much-criticized warrantless wiretapping program, the CQ report states.

The Harman scandal’s political repercussions appear to be growing, and it sits at the intersection of several controversial issues – among them, the influence of the "Israel lobby" on Capitol Hill, the complicity of top Democrats in Bush-era abuses, and the politicization of judicial proceedings under the Bush administration

The best part beside Alberto Gonzales directly intervening to make the case against Harmon disappear is the fact that she was captured by the very illegal NSA spying program she lobbied in support of as the senior democrat on the national intelligence commitee - delicious irony with a twist.

Glenn Greenwald also comments: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/200...rman/index.html

[pigpenz]

thats why they didnt want to go after her because she was supporting the administrations ideas.

[Winstonm]

The damning part of this expose' is that Alberto Gonzales refused to file criminal charges because he considered Harman an ally of the White House in its battle to keep the wiretapping secret - a purely political reason.