JUICY

Dem Bigwig in Wiretap Probe

Did feds overhear a quid pro quo with AIPAC?

Was California Congresswoman Jane Harman part of what one national security officer called "the deepest kind of corruption" that was "years in the making?" CQ Politics reports that two years ago a wiretap caught the California Democrat telling a suspected Israeli agent that she'd lobby the Justice Department to reduce the espionage charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. In exchange, the suspected agent agreed to lobby then-House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections (a position that Harman did not end up getting). What's more, the FBI ended up dropping charges against Harman related to the wiretap for "lack of evidence" after then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales intervened because he "needed Jane” to support the warrantless wiretapping program that The New York Times was about to expose. The whole event may explain why Obama passed her over for top jobs at the CIA and Homeland Security Department. Harman issued an angry denial through a spokesperson.