WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A powerful U.S.-Israel lobby group is vehemently disputing reports that its employees may have passed confidential U.S. documents on Iran to Israel.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committe, or AIPAC, has posted a statement on its Web site saying: "Any allegation of criminal conduct by AIPAC or our employees is false and baseless. Neither AIPAC nor any of its employees has violated any laws or rules, nor has AIPAC or its employees ever received information they believed was secret or classified."
The story of the alleged security breach and AIPAC's alleged role in it was broken by CBS News Friday. The New York Times said Monday that the subject in the case, identified as Lawrence Franklin, a low-level Pentagon official, has been cooperating with the FBI for weeks and was prepared to lead investigators to Israeli contacts when the story broke.
The disclosure "compromised" any attempt to "follow the trail back to the Israelis," the Times said.
Unconfirmed reports said the documents passsed from Franklin to AIPAC to the Israelis.
