The Mahablog: Rove Roundup

Richard Schmitt of the Los Angeles Times reports that Karl Rove's executive assistant testified last week to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury.

The interest in Susan Ralston, Rove's longtime executive assistant, was unclear. But it comes as special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has been focusing on differences in witness statements made to federal agents and the grand jury investigating who revealed the identity of Valerie Plame.

Ralston's appearance Friday followed grand jury testimony last month by Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, who recounted a conversation he had had with Rove in July 2003 in which Rove alluded to Plame without mentioning her by name. Cooper and columnist Robert Novak subsequently wrote stories identifying Plame after talking with administration officials. ...