Watergate for the 21st century?

January 22, 2004 11:41 AM

Remember that mini-scandal about the computer break-in by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee? It's not mini anymore: The Boston Globe reports that the infiltration lasted for at least a year:

Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.

From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics.

Manuel Miranda is one of the key alleged perpetrators -- he's Bill Frist's chief judicial nominee adviser, ie. very influential in the Senator Majority Leader's office. So the big question is who knew about this. Could be explosive.

Watergate for the 21st century? (01.22.2004)

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