Well, it seems that the
target of the tap was not Harman but Saban (presuming the producer was the Israeli agent, as TPM has reported). And yet, on a practical level, it comes to the same thing, doesn't it?
The Bush administration was eavesdropping on a big Democratic donor. The administration gave Israel the proverbial blank check throughout eight years, so I don't think the Israeli agent in this case was ever in any real danger. Thus, the only practical result of the eavesdropping was the acquisition of blackmail info on people like Jane Harmon.
Presuming Saban to be the guy: Is anyone ever going to go after him for being an unregistered agent of a foreign nation? Why did the Bushies go after poor
Susan Lindauer and not the fellow talking to Jane Harman?
By the way, TPM has a
timeline up which is quite useful.
Note that the original story about an NSA intercept is changing.
The Atlantic says it might have been the FBI.
Several sources with direct knowledge of the incident say that Harman's telephone conversation was recorded as part of the ongoing FBI investigation into whether AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, leaked secrets to Israel.