What is on the rest of Congressman Jack Murtha’s now infamous
FBI tape? Much more than the available video reveals.
Thanks to the diligent efforts of conservative media and blogs in January and February of this
year, many readers now know or remember that Congressman Murtha was
an unindicted co-conspirator in the “Abscam” investigation of the
late 1970s and 1980. (I wondered
where the mainstream media’s outrage was over Murtha’s murky
lobbyist relationships, besides the L.A. Times’s lone,
forgotten piece on the subject.)
In recent weeks, Murtha’s Abscam past has enjoyed renewed
attention in the higher echelons of conservative media, with even
Rush Limbaugh and Bob Novak joining the chorus.
Still, only a brief, 13-second snippet of a tape of the FBI’s
undercover meeting with Murtha is widely available. The agent tells
him, “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
replies, “I’m not interested. I’m sorry. At this point
[emphasis Murtha’s].”
In his column, Novak hinted at the content of the tape. “The
videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing
interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his
political influence.” We have seen him declining the cash and
expressing interest, but not the bragging. What is on the rest of
the tape?
An article from the August 6, 1980, Washington Post,
inexplicably unavailable on LexisNexis, fills in some of the gaps.
Written by Jack Anderson, the sometimes controversial yet Pulitzer
Prize-winning investigative columnist, the article details Murtha’s
conversation with the investigators and sheds further light on his
status as an unindicted co-conspirator. Anderson’s reporter, Gary
Cohn, apparently reviewed the tapes.
Anderson framed Murtha’s performance as “perhaps the saddest
scene on the secret Abscam videotapes…. He refused to take the
money, but his reason was hardly noble.” The column
continued:
“I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any
transactions at all, period…. After we’ve done some business,
well, then I might change my mind….”
…”I’m going to tell you this. If anybody can do it — I’m not
B.S.-ing you fellows — I can get it done my way.” he boasted.
“There’s no question about it.”…
But the reluctant Murtha wouldn’t touch the $50,000. Here on
secret videotape was this all-American hero, tall and dignified in
a disheveled way, explaining why he wasn’t quite ready to accept
the cash.
“All at once,” he said, “some dumb [expletive deleted] would go
start talking eight years from now about this whole thing and say
[expletive deleted], this happened. Then in order to get immunity
so he doesn’t go to jail, he starts talking and fingering people.
So the [S.O.B.] falls apart.”…
“You give us the banks where you want the money deposited,”
offered one of the bagmen.
“All right,” agreed Murtha. “How much money we talking
about?”
“Well, you tell me.”
“Well, let me find out what is a reasonable figure that will get
their attention,” said Murtha, “because there are a couple of banks
that have really done me some favors in the past, and I’d like to
put some money in….[“]
The dialogue continued as follows:
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.
