Harman says she will clear her name

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) vowed Sunday to clear her name after the revelation of a wiretapped conversation in which she reportedly agreed to intervene in the federal investigation of two pro-Israeli lobbyists in exchange for help getting a coveted congressional post.

Harman told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby group, that she had called on the Justice Department to release all the information it had about secretly monitored conversations involving her.

“I want it all out there. I want it in public. I want everyone to understand, including me, what has happened,” she said.

News organizations reported last month that Harman was heard on a wiretap speaking to a suspected Israeli agent about two AIPAC lobbyists accused of illegally passing classified information to foreign officials and reporters.

The congresswoman, a longtime AIPAC supporter, has said she did not contact the White House or Justice Department about the two lobbyists. Harman was passed over for the intelligence panel chairmanship in 2006, when Democrats won control of the House.

Federal prosecutors last week dropped the case against the former AIPAC lobbyists, saying that recent court rulings had made it unlikely they could win convictions.

Harman has described the wiretap as an abuse of government power. But sources have told the Washington Post that she was not under surveillance; the tapped phone belonged to the suspected Israeli agent, who happened to talk to her.