Yesterday, the Internet was all abuzz over the revelations related to an investigation into Rep. Jane Harman's wiretapped conversation with a suspected Israeli agent about horsetrading to help indicted lobbyists for the American-Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC). Ellen wrote about the initial details here.

The juiciest part of the story -- aside from the potential quid-pro-quo -- is that, after being caught on an NSA wiretap, the Alberto Gonzales-led Justice Department dropped the probe in exchange for Rep. Harman's strong support of the NSA warrentless wiretapping program. One of the fears of Justice was a reported investigation into the program by the New York Times, set to come out just before the 2004 election. The initial allegations stated that Harman worked, successfully, to block the story. Both Rep. Harman and the New York Times initially denied. According to a statement from the New York Times received by Greg Sargent, the Times now admits that Rep. Harman did try to kill the story:

Congresswoman Harman spoke to Washington Bureau Chief Phil Taubman in late October or early November, 2004, apparently at the request of General Hayden. She urged that The Times not publish the story. She did not speak to me, and I don’t remember her being a significant factor in my decision. In 2005, when we were getting ready to publish, Phil met with a group of congressional leaders familiar with the eavesdropping program, including Ms. Harman. They all argued that The Times should not publish. The Times published the story a few days later.

This is a blistering scandal. Not only did Rep. Harman actively use her position to help a foreign agent, in exchange for her own political support, she also, once compromised, used her position to block the publication of an important story solely to protect her neck. (This doesn't even consider that the publication of this story that could have placed Sen. John Kerry -- Harman and Kerry are both Democrats -- into the White House.) Even worse are the motives of the Gonzales-led Justice Department, essentially blackmailing Rep. Harman after using -- allegedly -- a legal NSA wiretap. More to come, I'm sure.

Late last evening, CQ Politics' Jeff Stein added a big dose of oxygen to a barely smoldering scandal that many had thought was snuffed out years ago.

Stein reports that in the run up to the 2006 midterm election, U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), a powerful congressional voice on intelligence issues, was recorded via a court-approved NSA tap offering a quid pro quo.  Three top former national security officials told Stein that Harman was taped promising "a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington." In exchange, the Israeli agent would lobby U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to make Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee if the Democrats won control of the House in the elections.

Allegations have existed since 2006 that pro-Israel lobbyists were lobbying to help Harman get the chairmanship, and that the FBI had launched an investigation. But that seemed to go nowhere at the time.

Stein is reporting that his sources say that the reason the investigation was dropped was not from lack of evidence. Then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez intervened  and squelched it. He wanted Harman's help in defending the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about break in The New York Times and engulf the White House. Salon's Glenn Greenwald writes that Harman became, as the ranking Democratic on the House intelligence committee, "the most crucial defender" of the warrantless eavesdropping program.

As Josh Marshall wrote very late last night, this story is "radioactive." And Josh asks some interesting questions: why is this coming out right now. "Any particular reason people in the intel community would want to start talking to the press right now?"

Hollywood's fiction rarely matches the reality of true Washington intrigue.