{"id":8683,"date":"2006-10-06T17:07:45","date_gmt":"2006-10-06T21:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8683.html"},"modified":"2006-10-06T17:07:45","modified_gmt":"2006-10-06T21:07:45","slug":"ralston-resigns-from-white-house-abramoff-scandal-claims-another-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/ralston-resigns-from-white-house-abramoff-scandal-claims-another-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Ralston resigns from White House; Abramoff scandal claims another victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just seven days ago, we learned that disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack [tag]Abramoff[\/tag] had far more contact with the Bush White House, particularly Karl Rove’s office, than had previously been acknowledged. In particular, we learned that Rove’s executive assistant, Susan [tag]Ralston[\/tag], who was also Abramoff\u2019s former secretary, was, as the New York Times explained<\/a>, “instrumental in passing messages between Mr. Abramoff and senior officials at the White House, including Mr. [tag]Rove[\/tag] and Ken [tag]Mehlman[\/tag].”<\/p>\n

Today, Ralston resigned<\/a>. (thanks to reader J.C. for the heads-up)<\/p>\n

A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove resigned Friday in the wake of a congressional report that listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.<\/p>\n

Susan Ralston, special assistant to President Bush, submitted a resignation letter to him less than five weeks before congressional elections in which corruption and scandal are emerging as key issues for voters.<\/p>\n

“She did not want to be a distraction to the White House at such an important time and so we have accepted her resignation,” White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. “We support her decision and consider the matter closed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Consider the matter “closed”? Not quite.
\n
\nRealistically, after six years, it’s unlikely that Ralston stepped aside — late on a Friday afternoon — because she didn’t want to be a “distraction.” It’s far more likely, in light of the timing, that the Abramoff scandal has claimed yet another victim.<\/p>\n

TP offers some helpful background<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* She worked at two lobbying firms with Abramoff<\/a> prior to joining the West Wing.<\/p>\n

* Jack Abramoff recommended her hiring<\/a> to Karl Rove<\/p>\n

* She had testified<\/a> in the Valerie Plame leak investigation<\/p>\n

* She once said she was “involved in much of what goes on at the White House<\/a>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One hesitates to assume anything, but given today’s resignation, it hardly seems like a stretch to wonder if Ralston has been indicted, or is about to be indicted. And if so, what might she have to say to prosecutors?<\/p>\n

And have I mentioned lately how much I loath these Friday-night bombshells?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just seven days ago, we learned that disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack [tag]Abramoff[\/tag] had far more contact with the Bush White House, particularly Karl Rove’s office, than had previously been acknowledged. In particular, we learned that Rove’s executive assistant, Susan [tag]Ralston[\/tag], who was also Abramoff\u2019s former secretary, was, as the New York Times explained, “instrumental in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}