Pelosi Knew Of Harman Wiretap
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that she was notified by the National Security Administration when Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was overheard on a wiretap.
"A few years ago, maybe three years ago, they did brief me," Pelosi said today during a meeting with reporters as part of a regular Christian Science Monitor series.
Pelosi said it was a "confidential, classified briefing," that fell in line with an informal tradition of notifying leadership when a member is included in a wiretap.
Pelosi said she did not contact Harman about the meeting, emphasizing that the information passed to her by the NSA was not for public consumption.
"If I wanted to share it with her, I would not have had the liberty to share it with her," Pelosi said.
Pelosi also voiced her firm backing of Harman, who CQ reported earlier this week was heard promising a "suspected Israeli agent" over the telephone "that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two former officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. In return, the Israeli agent pledged to help lobby for Harman to become chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee."
"I have great confidence in Jane Harman, she's a patriotic American," the speaker said. "She would never do anything to hurt her country."
Harman, meanwhile, has asked the Justice Department to release the transcripts of the conversations, which she said she intends to make public.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
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