Scooter Libby gets to avoid prison in CIA leak case
Just hours after a federal appeals court rejected Scooter Libby's request to delay his 30 months prison term, President Bush announced he was commuting his prison sentence for his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case involving Valerie Plame, alleged retribution for her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson for being critical of the information leading to the invasion of Iraq.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted the leak case. Although nobody was charged with the leak itself (both Richard Armitage and Karl Rove gave information to reporters), Libby was found to have lied in the investigation.
Bush is leaving the conviction standing along with the $250,000 fine and probation while not using the term "pardon." Without this action, Libby would have had to report to federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald prosecuted the leak case. Although nobody was charged with the leak itself (both Richard Armitage and Karl Rove gave information to reporters), Libby was found to have lied in the investigation.
Bush is leaving the conviction standing along with the $250,000 fine and probation while not using the term "pardon." Without this action, Libby would have had to report to federal prison.
26 comments:
That's fine. Lying is a way of life in Washington. It all begins at the grass roots level during the election campaigning and carries on through political life. Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone who has ever told a lie in Washington was imprisoned?
He should have never gone to court in the first place.
THe 'lie' was about something that was never illegal in anyway.
How can you be found guilty of lying about something that did exist in the first place?
Answer: Demonrat hate mongers who hate Bush and put that above all else!
Lying is the way of Aurora politians as well.
If you are not good at lying, you will never get elected. Have you ever wondered why most politicians started out as lawyers?
"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."
"As Independence Day nears, we are reminded that one of the principles our forefathers fought for was equal justice under the law. This commutation completely tramples on that principle,"
"The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged," Bush said. "His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting."
"It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals,"
I'll admit, I haven't followed this case. That said, I agree with the President. The sentence given was to satisfy the ones who wanted a scapegoat. What the President did was to allow for real justice to happen.
Had Mr. Libby been a nobody who happened purger himself would have gotten a fine and probation and sent on their merry way. Mr. Libby's $250,000 fine is no joke. I don't make that much in 5 years before taxes! I am also assuming he will be dismissed from the bars he is a member of and won't be allowed to join others, thus basically ruining his career. People should be happy with that.
newaurora.org
It's interesting to watch rightwingers contorting themselves into pretzels with their tortured logic that Libby's perjury was justified and Clinton's perjury was an impeachable offense. Lying is lying. Perjury is perjury and actions should have consequences. The fact that he was covering up for Cheney is no excuse to let him off the hook so easily.
Libby may have had his sentence commuted by a White House that has plenty to hide, but Libby was still convicted by a jury of his peers. That conviction still stands.
When Bush said he would take care of anyone who was involved in the outing a CIA agent, this was what he apparently meant. I wouldn't be surprised to se Libby get a Medal of Freedom out of this as well.
I thought President Clinton was wrong to lie and it's wrong for President Bush to basically say it's okay to lie.
No wonder everyone lies to each other in business, relationships and society.
I'm not saying it is ok to lie. I am saying that the sentence he received was excessive to the point where he was being made an example of by left-wing nutjobs in yet another attempt to discredit the Bush administration. If President Bush felt the same way, he was totally justified in commuting the jail sentence.
The Bush Administration doesn't need any help in discrediting itself.
To: newaurora
The prosecutor was a Bush appointee, the Judge was a Republican appointee. I doubt party affiliation was a requirement to serve on the jury. The sentence was in accordance with federal sentencing guidelines.
Were are the "left wing nutjobs" attempting to discredit the Bush administration?
.
.
Bush covered his ass.
Cheney is the guilty one.
The whitehouse is a den of iniquity.
Libby lied and fell on his sword.
Our children now have new heros.
Not only are there "Two America's", but there appears to be 2 Legal Systems as well. Sad commentary on this Administration's contempt and disregard for the law.
HOW SOON WE FORGET THAT BILL CLINTON LIED TO EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD IN THE UNITED STATES,BUT THAT WAS OK THAT WAS JUST ABOUT A OATH TO GOD! BUT IT WAS OK BECAUSE HE IS A GOD! how f'n twisted all of you people are! dont you understand how brainwashed you are! both parties are liars,cheats and thiefs. Look at your paycheck and tell me that you dont understand that as long as we fight one another we wont pay attention to what they are doing(robbing us blind) look at gores kid, whos going come out and condemm him for his lack of skills as a father. no one because you dont look at these people for what they are,al gore is a bad father he cant raise a law abbiding kid but he wants to be president? at the very least get off your soapboxes and understand just how terriable these people really are it has nothing to do with party affiliation,everyone in dc needs to be fired,call up your representives and fire them today!
To 3:33
Calm down. Nobody said that Clinton's lie was OK.
You are right about both parties being bad. What we need is a third and fourth party (or more) to have choices.
We also need public financing so everyone has a chance to run who is qualified.
We can only elect millionaires or people who can raise millions and that eliminates a lot of talent.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush owes Lil' Kim and Martha Stewart an apology.
The famous rap artist Kimberly Denise "Lil' Kim" Jones spent 10 months in prison for lying to a grand jury.
The business and media star Stewart served five months in federal prison for four counts of obstructing justice and lying to investigators.
But fellow perjurer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, won't serve a day of the 30-month sentence he received for lying to a federal grand jury, thanks to the selectively kind heart of President Bush.
But if you listen to some sympathizers on the political right, Libby should have received a full pardon. It's amusing to watch staunch, hang-'em-high conservative editorial pages and presidential candidates go all squishy when one of their own has been convicted.
Bush stood firm, sort of. Instead of a pardon, he let stand Libby's two years of probation and $250,000 fine for lying to federal investigators in the investigation of the 2003 disclosure of the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame.
That's Bush's idea of a compromise. He called Libby's sentence "excessive."
Maybe he should also consider a similar commutation -- or an apology -- to Victor Rita, a North Carolinian whose very similar sentence was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court less than two weeks earlier.
Rita was sentenced to 33 months in prison for making two false statements to a grand jury about a parts kit he had purchased, allegedly to make an illegal machine gun.
Rita is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars and has no prior criminal history. Seeking a reduced sentence, Rita's lawyers argued that he was in poor health, had performed valuable government service and could be in physical danger of reprisals in prison for criminal justice work he had performed in his government job. But the Court upheld Rita's sentence in an 8-1 decision, ruling that it was "presumptively reasonable" within federal sentencing guidelines.
Sentencing is a remarkably arbitrary decision. How do you define justice? In days? Months? A lifetime? Cash? With as many deep-pocket contributors as Libby has funneling money into his defense fund, it is doubtful that Libby will ever pay a penny of his fine out of his own pocket.
What about other big fish such as presidential adviser Karl Rove, who also leaked Plame's identity to reporters and got off scot-free? That point has been raised and it's a fair one.
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald decided that he could not build a winnable case against Rove or Libby for knowingly revealing a covert CIA agent's identity. But that does not reduce the seriousness of lying to a grand jury. Perjury is not a petty offense. Truthful testimony is the bulwark of our justice system.
Bush appears to understand that. If he has any reason to think Libby was railroaded, he should give him a full pardon. People appreciate a president who stands on principles, not just politics. After all, this is the president who dubbed his 2000 campaign jet with the title "Accountability One." That slogan sounded like a little dig at the fuzzy ethics of then-President Bill Clinton.
Early in the Plame investigation, Bush also vowed to oust anyone who took part in the outing of Plame's identity. Yet Rove, who disclosed classified information about Plame to two reporters, kept his job and Libby left the Bush administration only after his indictment in 2005.
Look who's getting all fuzzy now.
First off Valerie Plame-Wilso was NOT a "covert CIA agent" and, therefore, couldn't have been "outed" by ANYONE! Additionally it wa known before the kangaroo investigation started that Libby was not the "leaker" of the non-secret ID.
He didn't "lie" to a grand jury. He was ACCUSED of lying to the FBI. NONE of the people calle dto "testify" against him could come up with the same story about what happened or what was said when to whom. Who was lying and who had a bad memory of what literally came down to an hour by hour parcing of appointment books and calendars?
The CIA has clearly stated that Plame was, in fact, a COVERT agent. Secondly, as serious a PERJURY CONVICTION is, Libby was also CONVICTED of OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE by COVERING UP FOR BUSH AND CHENEY. Fitzgerald learned the identity of the leaker(s) early on. He was investigating WHY the leak occurred in the first place. That's when Libby BROKE THE LAW.
Seriously, you're never going to learn what's really going on if you get all your information from Faux Noise and Rush "Where's My Oxycontin" Limburger.
I get some of my news from Bill O'Reilly...
You're all beating around the Bush... The power to commute sentences is vested in the President alone. He thought there was a miscarriage of justice. He acted. Case closed. Don't like it? Write your elected officials. Just don't expect anything to be done about it, need I remind you about Clinton's pardons (full pardons - Bush didn't remove the conviction, he commuted an unfair part of the sentence)?
This was Phase 1. Phase 2 is a full pardon. Bush needs to buy off Libby's continued silence. If Libby squeals, Bush and Cheney are toast.
Also, does Bush believe that any prison time is unfair for perjury and obstruction of justice, or does he just thinks it's unfair when it happens to one of his guys?
There are plenty of folks out there convicted of the same crimes as Libby. Wonder how many of them will get commutations of their sentences? Not many, I'd guess.
This has been a politically motivated witch hunt from the get go. That is why the sentence was so harsh. The President has the duty to commute an unfair sentence. He did so. He also has the power to pardon crimes. This he has not done, and as Mr. Snow reported, has no intention of doing, as no request for a pardon has been sent to the White House.
As far as the other 2 cases mentioned, Ms. Stewart and the rap artist (if you can call rap art...) have the right to appeal their convictions to the President. To my knowledge, they have not done so.
So, was the Clinton perjury OK because it was a result of a "politically motivated witch hunt"?
Also, Bush has stated that he "rules nothing in or out" when it comes to pardoning Libby.
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