BloombergApril 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Representative Jane Harman said the taping of one of her phone calls as part of a federal investigation represented an “abuse of power” and demanded that the Justice Department release the transcript.
“I am offended by it. It’s an abuse of power,” Harman, a California Democrat, said in an interview yesterday with CNN. “Those were informal conversations with friends of mine.”
Harman, a former senior member of the House intelligence committee, went on the offensive following media reports that she was taped in 2005 offering to intercede in a Justice Department espionage investigation of lobbyists for Israel. Harman denied trying to influence the investigation.
She sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding the release of the wiretap transcripts and appeared in television and radio interviews criticizing the government surveillance.
“I’m one member of Congress who may be caught up in it, but I have a bully pulpit and I can fight back,” Harman said in an interview with NBC News. “I’m thinking about others who have no bully pulpit and may not be aware, as I was not, that right now, somewhere, someone’s listening in on their conversations, and they’re innocent Americans.”
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