Novak: Former Rove aide seeks immunity to testify in House Abramoff probe
A former top aide to White House adviser Karl Rove is seeking immunity to testify before a Congressional committee investigating government corruption surrounding convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, columnist Robert Novak reports today.
Susan Ralston, Rove's former executive assistant, is seeking immunity based on the advice of her lawyers before testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Novak reports. Novak says that Ralston told a Republican on the committee of her plans and he was told by another GOP committee member. Before joining Rove at the White House in 2001, Ralston was Abramoff's assistant, and he recommended Rove hire her.
A committee spokesperson did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the report.
Ralston already has participated in a closed-door deposition before the committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Novak reports her request for immunity could be based more on a desire for self-protection than to provide cover to nail her former boss.
Democrats have long suspected Rove's involvement in any number of recent scandals -- from the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the allegedly political firings of US Attorneys -- but so far have been unable to bring him down. They will try again with Ralston's testimony.
Ralston was in frequent contact with Abramoff and his lobbying team during her time at the White House, tipping them off to upcoming political appointments and helping the lobbyists access White House officials, according to a report by the House committee released last year. She exchanged at least 69 e-mails and other contacts with Abramoff and his team, and she was given tickets to concerts or sporting events at least nine times.
In one e-mail to Ralston, Abramoff asks about getting "a meeting or quick phone call with Karl" regarding filling political appointments.
In 2005, Ralston testified before a Grand Jury convened to investigate the Plame leak. Vice Presidential aide Scooter Libby was convicted of perjury as a result of the probe, but Rove -- who Novak has said was his second source for the original column outing Plame -- emerged unscathed.
EXCERPTS FROM NOVAK'S COLUMN:
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She was an assistant to Jack Abramoff, Washington super-lobbyist and Republican fundraiser, in 2001 when he recommended her for the top job with Rove as he entered the White House. As Rove's gatekeeper, Susan Bonzon Ralston became special assistant to the president and the highest-ranking Filipino American in the administration. For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress.
As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Waxman is tirelessly making life miserable for a confused administration during George W. Bush's last two years as president. Bringing down Rove ranks high on Grand Inquisitor Waxman's agenda. But Ralston appears to be seeking immunity for self-protection rather than nailing her former boss, and she could be a blank fired by the fierce political marksman from westside Los Angeles.
Rove, the hard-edged architect of two victorious presidential campaigns, was in the Democratic cross hairs long before the Republicans lost control of Congress. Democrats were bitterly disappointed when he was not indicted in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case (when Ralston was among the grand jury witnesses). They have targeted Rove in investigating the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, and Waxman's committee sought testimony from Ralston about Rove's e-mails. She was deposed behind closed doors last month before her request for immunity.
Ralston told one Republican on the committee last week that her lawyers wanted her to seek immunity, and another GOP committee member told me she is doing so. According to her friends, she has nothing to say that would cause problems for Rove. Her request for immunity, they explained, resulted from caution by her attorneys. It was forwarded to the Justice Department, whose recommendation may or may not be followed by Congress.
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FULL ARTICLE CAN BE READ HERE
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