WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is reviewing one of its most politically sensitive cases in recent years, and may drop or downgrade charges against two former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of illegally disclosing national defense secrets, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday.
The revelation adds a new twist to a controversy surrounding Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), who is trying to beat back media reports that a federal wiretap recorded her offering to intervene with the Justice Department on behalf of the lobbyists.
Harman has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
In a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday, she said she was "outraged" at reports that several of her calls had been secretly recorded by the government in 2005 and 2006 while she was a prominent member of the House Intelligence Committee.
"This abuse of power is outrageous," Harman wrote. She challenged the Justice Department to release any materials implicating her.
The wiretaps were part of an espionage investigation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a well-known pro-Israel lobby group. At the time, two former AIPAC analysts, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, had been charged with conspiring to obtain information about Iran and other Middle East nations from then-Pentagon analyst Lawrence A. Franklin to pass along to an Israeli Embassy official.
According to Congressional Quarterly and the New York Times, the wiretaps recorded Harman offering to intervene in the case in return for support of her effort to be named head of the intelligence panel.
According to the news reports, that support would come from California entertainment mogul Haim Saban, who allegedly would threaten to withhold campaign donations from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unless Harman was named chairwoman.
Harman was not named chairwoman, and Pelosi said Tuesday that Saban never pressed her on that front.
When asked what was behind the allegations Tuesday, Saban replied: "No idea."
Harman insisted in an interview that she had done nothing inappropriate on behalf of the two men or AIPAC.
"It was totally proper to talk to folks about my desire to be chairman of the committee," Harman said. "I thought I'd earned it, and I thought it had been promised."
The Justice Department and the FBI have declined to comment on Harman's role, but David W. Szady, head of counterintelligence for the FBI from 2001 to 2006, said he was not aware of any improper contacts from Harman.
