More on that "Suspected Israeli Agent"

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/04/more_on_that_suspected_israeli_agent.php


Let me follow up on my earlier post which asked just who that "suspected Israeli agent" was who Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was talking to. Some quick TPM staff research shows that the original Time article on this story from 2006 identified Harman's interlocutor as Haim Saban.

(See my correction at the bottom of this post. It's less clear than I originally thought that we know Saban was the person on the other end of the phone call. Time notes that Saban did lobby Pelosi on Harman's behalf and seems to suggest this as a possible part of the quid pro quo. But a closer look leaves the identity of Harman's interlocutor an open question.)

Saban is a major entertainment industry mogul, who's a big contributor to the Democratic party and a major supporter of Israel. If you're interested in some fun trivia, I think a big chunk of his fortune comes from creating the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. In any case, Saban was born in Alexandria, Egypt, was I believe raised in Israel and then became a naturalized US citizen.

The key here is that the premise of the investigation into AIPAC was precisely whether people around AIPAC were not just big boosters of Israel but in some sense acting as agents of a foreign power -- obviously, an extremely explosive question. So the intel sources appear to be referring to him as a "suspected Israeli agent."

There are obviously a lot of facts we don't know here. But if Saban is the interlocutor, it seems to me that any legal case against Harman would likely be very shaky since the claim that Saban was an agent of a foreign power would quite likely be legally unsustainable.

[blogslut]

1. Saban

A little Power Rangering?

If I get the timeline right, the "agent" was trying to influence Harman after the AIPAC scandal blew open and Wilkerson, Rosen and Weissman were indicted. So, this would be a case of influence peddling on the part of Saban.

Aren't there laws against that even for naturalized US citizens?

[seemslikeadream]

2. naturalized US citizen

[blogslut]

3. Did I misspell the word?

I don't understand your response.

[seemslikeadream]

4. sorry just emphasizing

:hi:

[blogslut]

6. Okay

But I still don't understand why Mr. Saban's citizenship could be considered detrimental to the case against congresswoman Harman. He was trying to get her to get charges lessened against Steve Rosen - a man already indicted by the Justice Department.

Does it matter if he was acting on his own accord, for AIPAC or for the Israeli government? Isn't this kind of thing against US law, no matter who does it?

[aquart]

8. Making a distinction between that and a "real" citizen?

Or simply noticing that he is an AMERICAN CITIZEN?

[seemslikeadream]

9. no did I say that?

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Actually he's a dual citizen, but that's beside the point.

He's a Likudist warmongering tool, attempting to buy influence into US policy. That's what's wrong.

[aquart]

7. So the NSA was spying on an American citizen and a Congressman?

And FISA okayed it?

[blogslut]

11. I am assuming

...she was taped in relation to the AIPAC scandal case, notedly, after indictments were issued. I can't speak for the motives of the DOJ - just the timeline.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Saban was a major contributer to the Clinton campaign.

He was one of those big multimillionaire lobbyists who threatened to quit the party if Obama was nominated.