Harman begins to backtrack denials of wiretap story John Byrne

Published: Wednesday April 22, 2009





Print This Email This The California Democrat who was allegedly caught on an FBI wiretap promising to aid accused Israeli spies in 2005 has begun walking back her original denials.



Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) originally denied -- emphatically -- that she had in any way agreed in a plot to get herself appointed chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee by getting an Israeli agent to work a major California donor to threaten to withhold campaign contributions from then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The call between Harman and the Israeli national was caught on an FBI wiretap as part of a broader Israeli espionage case.



But in an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Harman began qualifying her answers under heavy questioning.



"We don't know if there was a phone call," Harman said, backtracking on her previous statements.



Pressed on the specifics of the call, Harman said she couldn't "recall with any specificity a conversation I may have had four years ago."



Harman also appeared on numerous news networks, including CNN and MSNBC, to press her case of denial -- before beginning to backtrack on her answers.





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