The American Spectator

Special Report

The Rest of Murtha's FBI Tape

By David Holman on 7.12.06 @ 12:09AM

(Page 2 of 2)

Amoroso: Let me ask you now that we're together. I was under the impression, OK, and I told Howard [middleman Howard Criden] what we were willing to pay, and [This is where the available videotape begins]I went out, I got the $50,000. OK? So what you're telling me, OK, you're telling me that that's not what you know....

Murtha: I'm not interested.

Amoroso: OK.

Murtha: At this point, [This is where the available videotape ends] you know, we do business together for a while. Maybe I'll be interested and maybe I won't.... Right now, I'm not interested in those other things. Now, I won't say that some day, you know, I, if you made an offer, it may be I would change my mind some day.

It is damning stuff. But the mainstream media has yet to question Murtha aggressively about that short snippet of tape, much less the full reel. After my February article questioned Murtha's ties to defense contractors while chairing the defense appropriations subcommittee, John McLaughlin interviewed Murtha on his obscure One on One program. Besides suggesting that my article originated with a "sinister genius at the White House," McLaughlin asked Murtha about the tape:

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: ...Murtha was approached by an undercover FBI agent, and you're on tape telling the agent, quote, unquote, "I'm not interested." Is that true?

REP. MURTHA: Not only that, John; they pulled a drawer out and they had $50,000 there and I said, "I'm not interested." I said, "I'm interested in investment in my district, period."

Not interested, period? The only "period" that Anderson reported Murtha using in the conversation was, "I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any transaction at all, period." No wonder Murtha has kept a generally low profile through most of his political career.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Mainstream Media, Business