Bush calls off Libby's sentence
FAVORITE OF CHENEY'S STILL CONVICTED BUT WON'T GO TO PRISON
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post
Article Launched: 07/03/2007 01:28:45 AM PDT
WASHINGTON - President Bush commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Monday, sparing Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff 2 1/2 years in prison after a federal appeals court had refused to let Libby remain free while he appeals his conviction for lying to federal investigators.
Bush, who for months had sidestepped calls from conservatives to come to Libby's aid, broke his silence early Monday evening, touching off an immediate uproar from Democrats who accused the White House of circumventing the rule of law to protect one of its own.
The president announced his decision in a written statement that laid out the factors he had weighed. Bush said he decided to "respect" the jury's verdict that Libby was guilty of four felonies for lying about his role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. But the president said Libby's "exceptional public service" and prior lack of a criminal record led him to conclude that the 30-month sentence handed down by a judge last month was "excessive."
The president noted that he had promised before not to intervene until Libby had exhausted his appeals. But he stepped in short of that point.
"With the denial of bail being upheld and incarceration imminent," Bush said, "I believe it is now important to react to that decision."
Not a full pardon
Although he eliminated Libby's prison term, Bush did not grant him a full pardon, which was sought by some conservatives and would have erased his conviction. As a consequence, Libby still will have to pay a $250,000 fine and will remain on probation for two years.
The president said Libby's punishment remained "harsh," in part because his professional reputation "is forever damaged."
Bush commuted the sentence hours after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Libby's request to postpone his prison term while he pursued appeals. The panel concluded his grounds for appeal were unlikely to be strong enough to prevail in higher courts.
The appellate judges' unanimous opinion upheld an identical ruling slightly more than two weeks ago by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, the trial judge in Libby's case.
After a monthlong trial that forced presidential aides and prominent journalists onto the witness stand, Libby was found guilty of two counts of perjury and one count each of lying to FBI agents and obstructing a federal investigation into whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
Bush has granted far fewer pardons and commutations than any of his predecessors, dating to John F. Kennedy. He commuted three previous prison terms during his 6 1/2 years in office.
Most oppose move
At a time when his popularity is as low as any president's in modern history, Bush's action also defied public opinion.
Shortly after Libby was convicted in March, three national public opinion polls found that seven in 10 Americans said they would oppose a pardon of Libby.
Still, the president appeared to calculate that he would antagonize his conservative base too severely if he did not provide Libby with some form of reprieve, according to people close to the White House.
Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to say whether the vice president had a role in the decision, other than to say Cheney supports it.
Monday night, an array of Democrats, including several presidential candidates, reacted to Bush's move with derision.
Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., a White House hopeful, said, "Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement that "until now, it appeared that the president merely turned a blind eye to a high-ranking administration official leaking classified information. The president's action today makes it clear that he condones such activity."
All but a few Republicans were conspicuously silent.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said, "President Bush did the right thing today in commuting the prison term for Scooter Libby. The prison sentence was overly harsh, and the punishment did not fit the crime."
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., an unannounced presidential candidate who has helped lead Libby's defense fund and called for Bush to pardon Libby, said, "This will allow a good American who has done a lot for his country to resume his life."
Libby did not comment publicly on his reprieve from the sentence he received from Walton four weeks ago.
Theodore Wells, Libby's lead attorney, said in a statement Monday night, "Mr. Libby and his family wish to express their gratitude for the president's decision today." Wells signaled an intent to keep pursuing appeals, saying, "We continue to believe in Mr. Libby's innocence."
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who led the three-year leak investigation and was the chief prosecutor during Libby's trial, said he did not challenge the president's prerogative under the Constitution to commute prison sentences.
But Fitzgerald disputed Bush's characterization of Libby's sentence as excessive, saying, "An experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals."
Fitzgerald said Libby "remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies," and he vowed to continue to fight Libby's efforts to overturn his conviction through appeals.
Right-hand man
Libby, a 56-year-old attorney, was Cheney's right-hand man for nearly five years and helped write the administration's national security policies. He was the only person charged in the leak investigation, which penetrated to the highest echelons of the White House. No one was charged with the leak.
Libby was convicted March 6. Prosecutors convinced the jury that Libby deliberately obscured his role in a White House campaign in 2003, shortly after the Iraq war began, to discredit Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson.
