WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Jewish congresswoman who allegedly agreed to intervene in the case of two AIPAC staffers requested the release of a government wiretap of the conversation in question.
“If there are tapes out there, bring it on,” U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said Tuesday on MSNBC.
A number of news reports in recent days have quoted former U.S. security officials as saying that Harman agreed to a request from an “Israeli agent” in 2005 to intervene in the federal classified information leaks case against the former staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee case in exchange for support from a prominent donor to the Democratic Party in her bid to chair the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Harman wrote Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney general, on Tuesday asking him to release the tapes and investigate how she became swept up in a government wiretap.The wiretapping occurred during the Bush administration.
“I am outraged to learn from reports leaked to the media over the last several days that the FBI or NSA [National Security Agency] secretly wiretapped my conversations in 2005 or 2006 while I was Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee,” she wrote. “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.”
