Those who have long felt there was a suspicious backstory behind Congress's support of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping may feel their suspicions are closer to being confirmed this week.

Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein has an explosive story about how the Justice Department thwarted a criminal investigation of Representative Jane Harman (D - California) in order to guarantee her support for the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.

According to CQ, in 2004, Harman had helped lobby the *New York Times *to kill its NSA warrantless wiretapping story, which the newspaper had originally intended to publish on the eve of the 2004 elections.

The story was published a year later in December 2005, drawing condemnation from the Bush administration, which excoriated the newspaper for putting the lives of Americans at risk by exposing the program. The news launched a national debate about whether the adminsitration had exceeded its authority in authorizing the NSA to conduct warrantless domestic surveillance.

At the time, Harman joined the administration in condemning the Times, calling for prosecution of the newspaper and issuing a statement that said, "I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities."

This raised questions at the time about why a top Democrat, with a history of involvement in intelligence issues, would break ranks and support a program that many of her colleagues were condemning as illegal.

According to CQ, about two months before the Times published its story, Harman was allegedly caught on court-approved NSA wiretaps engaging in a quid-pro-quo conversation with an Israeli agent. The NSA was tapping Israeli targets associated with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee for an investigation of AIPAC officials suspected of illegally trading in national defense information.

In one conversation intercepted by the NSA, an Israeli agent allegedly asked Harman to intervene in the investigation of two AIPAC officials. The agent asked Harman if she could use her influence to get then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to reduce the charges against the two AIPAC officials suspected of espionage. In exchange, AIPAC allegedly promised to lobby Nancy Pelosi, then-House minority leader, to give Harman the chair of the House Intelligence Committee in 2006 after the Democrats were expected to assume the majority position in the House.

Harman is allegedly heard on the wiretap agreeing to intervene on AIPAC's behalf and then telling the Israeli agent, "This conversation doesn't exist."

Justice Department attorneys wanted to launch a full investigation of Harman, but according to CQ, Gonzales intervened to halt the inquiry because he said the administration "needed Jane" to support the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, which he knew the Times was on the verge of exposing. And this is exactly what the administration got from Harman once the story broke.

Since Harman had already exhibited support for the NSA program prior to being caught on tape – by pressuring the Times to refrain from publishing its story – she might have continued to support the program even if the administration hadn't done her a favor by stopping the criminal investigation against her. But since she was allegedly caught on tape already making one quid-pro-quo deal with AIPAC, it raises the possibility that she might have made another one with the administration to support its program.

As for Gonzales – the top law enforcer in the country – allegedly nixing a criminal investigation to gain political support for a White House program, CQ quotes a former NSA official saying "It's the deepest kind of corruption."

It should be noted that Harman is likely not the same congressional representative that the Times reported last week was targeted by the NSA in 2005 or 2006 for possible ties to a terrorist. The Times said in that story that a congressman became a person of interest after traveling with a congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 and being in contact with someone who was already under surveillance for having possible ties to terrorism. In that case, the NSA had sought to spy on the congressman without a court order, but the plan was ultimately halted at the last minute by intelligence officials who didn't think it wise to illegally spy on a federal lawmaker.

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