That is EXACTLY what I suspect, as the timeline shows she testified before the sub-committee on 2/10/00 and made the H.H. donation 2/16. I am *guessing* that she was told by the sub-committee that she would be granted an appearance before H.H. and the Al-Arians seem to have subscribed to the Johnny Chung idea of how access and favorable decision-making worked in Washington, D.C.
I do NOT think Henry Hyde operates that way. And as I noted, way back in the fall of 2001 when the arrest of her brother happened he moved the donation Nahla made to charity.
Yes, the Al-Arians have been under investigation for years. However, how widely publicized, to the point the name would jump out to even seasoned politician types even just a few years ago, doesn't seem to have been the case.
I am not on a ping list regarding this story, but I think Sabertooth has one.
It surprised me that HH accepted the donation knowing that he doesn't do those sorts of things, but he did donate it to charity.
I did hear on Fox that the feds have been after al-Arian for 10 years. And thanks for the ping information.