T1B

Bush wipes away Libby's prison sentence

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Just when things looked darkest for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, when prison seemed all but certain, President Bush wiped away the former White House aide's 2 1/2-year sentence in the CIA leak case.


Bush's move came Monday, just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. His prospects for an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court seemed bleak. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was just waiting for a date to surrender.

After months of sidestepping pardon questions, Bush stepped in. He did not issue a pardon but erased a prison sentence that he felt was just too harsh.

"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a written 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 30 months in prison."

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disputed the president's assertion that the prison term was excessive. Libby was sentenced under the same laws as other criminals, Fitzgerald said. "It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."

Libby's attorney, Theodore Wells, said in a statement that the Libby family was grateful for Bush's action and continued to believe in his innocence.

Because he was not pardoned, Libby remains the highest-ranking White House official convicted of a crime since the Iran-Contra affair. But he won't have to serve a day in prison, a fact that his friends cheered, even those who wished he'd received a full pardon.

"That's fantastic. It's a great relief," said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, who helped raise millions for Libby's defense fund. "Scooter Libby did not deserve to go to prison and I'm glad the president had the courage to do this."

Though the leak investigation is complete and nobody will have to serve prison time, the scandal that has loomed over the Bush administration for years did not subside. Democrats were enraged.

"Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

The president left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for his conviction of lying and obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative's identity. The former operative, Valerie Plame, contends the White House was trying to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of Bush's Iraq policy.

"Congress ought to conduct an investigation of whether or not the president himself is a participant in the obstruction of justice," Wilson told The Santa Fe New Mexican in a telephone interview.

Wilson, Plame and their children moved to Santa Fe earlier this year.

Bush said his action still "leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby."

The leak case has hung over the White House for years. Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald questioned top administration officials, including Bush and Cheney, about their possible roles. And Libby's trial revealed the extraordinary steps that Bush and Cheney were willing to take to discredit a critic of the Iraq war.

Nobody was ever charged with the leak, including Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage or White House political adviser Karl Rove, who provided the information for the original article. Prosecutors said Libby obstructed the investigation by lying about how he learned about Plame and whom he told.

Already at record lows in the polls, Bush risked a political backlash with his decision. President Ford tumbled in the polls after his 1974 pardon of Richard M. Nixon, and the decision was a factor in Ford's loss in the 1976 election.

Bush's father — former President George H.W. Bush — issued pardons shortly before leaving office in 1992 for former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five other former officials who had served in the Reagan administration. The six were involved in the Iran-Contra affair, in which arms were secretly sold to Iran to win the freedom of American hostages, then the money was funneled to anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua despite a congressional ban on military aid.

On Monday, White House officials said Bush knew he could take political heat for commuting Libby's prison sentence and simply did what he thought was right. They would not say what advice Cheney might have given the president.

Bush said Cheney's former aide was not getting off free.

"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."

Attorney William Jeffress said he had spoken to Libby briefly by phone and "I'm happy at least that Scooter will be spared any prison time. The prison sentence was imminent but obviously the conviction itself is a heavy blow to Scooter."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

Y2K wrote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

This is flat out hilarious.......

Those damn President's just love them criminals. That doggone Clinton had 400+ buddies and so did Uncle Ronnie, That damn Tricky Dick and Bushman42 had some special faves as well.

Just how fucking stupid are these people?

and to add the icing, Hillary actually opened her fucking mouth about it. For chrissakes "If there were EVER a time to shut the fuck up..."

They need to add another ring to this shit Circus, obviously the retarded Clowns get all the fucking run....

Mr. Belvedere wrote:

Y2K wrote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."

This is flat out hilarious.......

Those damn President's just love them criminals. That doggone Clinton had 400+ buddies and so did Uncle Ronnie, That damn Tricky Dick and Bushman42 had some special faves as well.

Just how fucking stupid are these people?

and to add the icing, Hillary actually opened her fucking mouth about it. For chrissakes "If there were EVER a time to shut the fuck up..."

They need to add another ring to this shit Circus, obviously the retarded Clowns get all the fucking run....

Ahem, funny how the republicunts bring up the pardons at the end of clintons term. They were no worse then Bush one and Ronny Raygun. What shrub just did isn't even close. He just pardoned a guy in the middle of a criminal investigation of acts conducted within his own administration. As Jules Winfield said " it's not in the same ballpark, it's not even in the same league, it's not even the same motherfuckinging sport".

Y2K wrote:

Mr. Belvedere wrote:

Y2K wrote: This is flat out hilarious.......

Those damn President's just love them criminals. That doggone Clinton had 400+ buddies and so did Uncle Ronnie, That damn Tricky Dick and Bushman42 had some special faves as well.

Just how fucking stupid are these people?

and to add the icing, Hillary actually opened her fucking mouth about it. For chrissakes "If there were EVER a time to shut the fuck up..."

They need to add another ring to this shit Circus, obviously the retarded Clowns get all the fucking run....

Ahem, funny how the republicunts bring up the pardons at the end of clintons term. They were no worse then Bush one and Ronny Raygun. What shrub just did isn't even close. He just pardoned a guy in the middle of a criminal investigation of acts conducted within his own administration. As Jules Winfield said " it's not in the same ballpark, it's not even in the same league, it's not even the same motherfuckinging sport".

Horseshit!

Maybe you enjoy having condesending Beltway dumbfucks talk to you like you were some "born yesterday" ignorant backwoods douchebag.

As Y2K said "If the shoe fits"...

Scooter Libby can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned and it's neither Right nor Left Wing to ignore the history of Pardons and other Presidential Privleges once they went way past triple digits in the last 50 years or so. Maybe throwing GW's name may make a favorite someone's panties wet but it still doesn't exclude you from looking like a complete moron to anyone with an IQ over 5. Gerald Ford pardoned RICHARD FUCKING NIXON and Scooter "the pawn" Libby is supposed to somehow be "a big fish?" Who gives a fuck.

Fucking idiots.

Mr. Belvedere wrote:

Y2K wrote:

Mr. Belvedere wrote: Ahem, funny how the republicunts bring up the pardons at the end of clintons term. They were no worse then Bush one and Ronny Raygun. What shrub just did isn't even close. He just pardoned a guy in the middle of a criminal investigation of acts conducted within his own administration. As Jules Winfield said " it's not in the same ballpark, it's not even in the same league, it's not even the same motherfuckinging sport".

Horseshit!

Maybe you enjoy having condesending Beltway dumbfucks talk to you like you were some "born yesterday" ignorant backwoods douchebag.

As Y2K said "If the shoe fits"...

Scooter Libby can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned and it's neither Right nor Left Wing to ignore the history of Pardons and other Presidential Privleges once they went way past triple digits in the last 50 years or so. Maybe throwing GW's name may make a favorite someone's panties wet but it still doesn't exclude you from looking like a complete moron to anyone with an IQ over 5. Gerald Ford pardoned RICHARD FUCKING NIXON and Scooter "the pawn" Libby is supposed to somehow be "a big fish?" Who gives a fuck.

Fucking idiots.

I'm sorry was there a point there among your drunken rambling? Oh and why were you speaking in the third person.

Martyred wrote:I'm glad Libby's sentence was commuted.

What was on SIMMER has now been set to BOIL.
Keep slapping people in the face, Dubya.

mvscal wrote:2 1/2 years in prison for having a different recollection of events than Tim Russert seems a bit harsh to me.

mvscal wrote:

Mike the Lab Rat wrote:Be prepared for the inevitable "it's the President's right to do this, so neener-neener..."

Are you disputing that?

mvscal wrote:2 1/2 years in prison for having a different recollection of events than Tim Russert seems a bit harsh to me.

mvscal wrote:Of course, Dubya fucked up again

mvscal wrote:2 1/2 years in prison for having a different recollection of events than Tim Russert seems a bit harsh to me. Of course, Dubya fucked up again by doing this half-assed by commuting his prison time rather than pardoning him outright.

mvscal wrote:

See You Next Wednesday wrote:

mvscal wrote:2 1/2 years in prison for having a different recollection of events than Tim Russert seems a bit harsh to me. Of course, Dubya fucked up again by doing this half-assed by commuting his prison time rather than pardoning him outright.

Accepting a pardon is also an admission of guilt.

No, it isn't.

mvscal wrote:That isn't a requirement of a pardon which is yet another clue that you are talking straight out of your ass.

PSUFAN wrote:Question - can they charge Cheney with crimes after Bush leaves office?

mvscal wrote:

BSmack wrote:I think we're missing the real point. Which is, shouldn't a conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice net more jail time than say... Paris Hilton?

Not for this politically motivated, 'he said - he said' circle jerk.

Dinsdale wrote:

PSUFAN wrote:Question - can they charge Cheney with crimes after Bush leaves office?

Yes. The VP doesn't get the same immunity from prosecution for acts committed while in office that the pres does.

Shrub is off-limits. Cheney is not.

mvscal wrote:

BSmack wrote:I think we're missing the real point. Which is, shouldn't a conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice net more jail time than say... Paris Hilton?

Not for this politically motivated, 'he said - he said' circle jerk.

mvscal wrote:All pardons and commutations are, by definition, an executive thumb up the ass of the judicial system.

Terry in Crapchester wrote:Once the President leaves office, though, he's fair game.

mvscal wrote:

BSmack wrote:

mvscal wrote: Not for this politically motivated, 'he said - he said' circle jerk.

There was a conviction by a jury of his peers. Was there not?

There was a Presidential commutation of his sentence. Was there not?

PSUFAN wrote:I think Cheney is at risk after Bush gets airlifted out of there. I would expect him to be investigated and charges brought within 6 months of the day Bush can no longer issue pardons.

mvscal wrote:

Terry in Crapchester wrote:

mvscal wrote:All pardons and commutations are, by definition, an executive thumb up the ass of the judicial system.

The difference between this one and the others, though, is that this one was motivated by a desire to protect the current Administration.

As opposed to Clinton's pardons being motivated by six figure cash payouts laundered through his brother in law and political pandering to enhance his wife's standing with in her Senate race?

mvscal wrote:

Dinsdale wrote:He's definitely immune while sitting --

There is no explicit immunity from criminal prosecution for any civil officer in the Constitution including the President.

mvscal wrote:

Mister Bushice wrote:This is Bush shoving his thumb up the ass of the justice system all the while his mouth is spewing "respect" for the jurys decision.

All pardons and commutations are, by definition, an executive thumb up the ass of the judicial system.

executive privilege has been sorely abused by Presidents Left and Right. As a government By the People and For the People guy, it is abhorrent to me that the POTUS would have this kind of blank check imperial power.

Mister Bushice wrote:

mvscal wrote:

Mister Bushice wrote:This is Bush shoving his thumb up the ass of the justice system all the while his mouth is spewing "respect" for the jurys decision.

All pardons and commutations are, by definition, an executive thumb up the ass of the judicial system.

How many of them occur PRIOR to the criminal serving any time?

How many of them have as their primary goal to protect the administration from further embarassment?


Face it.

This is one more example of the total lack of disregard for the rule of law (along with all the other shit he's done to trample the constitution and bill of rights into the dirt) that this piece of shit adminsitration doesn't think they have to answer to.

mvscal wrote:

Dinsdale wrote:You're right -- it's not explicitly stated -- it's just been determined by the Justice Department and whatnot.

And since it is not explicitly stated it can be "undetermined" by the Justice Deptartment at the drop of a hat.

mvscal wrote: And since it is not explicitly stated it can be "undetermined" by the Justice Deptartment at the drop of a hat.

Dinsdale wrote:If my memory of the rest is accurate, the pres can pull some bullshit immunities and priviledges, and is pretty well immune after he leaves office, for things he did while in office.

mvscal wrote:

Martyred wrote:You're officially a "banana republic" now.

Because a President commuted a sentence?!?



Oooookay.