Jul 3, 2007 4:26 pm US/Eastern
Bush Won't Rule Out Full Pardon For Libby
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
President Bush on Tuesday refused to rule out an eventual pardon for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
"As to the future, I rule nothing in and nothing out," the president said a day after commuting Libby's 2½-year prison term in the CIA leak case.
Mr. Bush said he had weighed his decision carefully to erase Libby's prison time. He said the jury's conviction of Libby should stand but that the 30-month prison term was too severe.
"I made a judgment, a considered judgment," the president said. "I stand by it." At the same time, he left the door open for the possibility of a pardon later.
Mr. Bush spoke to reporters after visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Just a short time earlier, Mr. Bush's chief spokesman, Tony Snow, had declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon and called the president satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.
"He thought any jail time was excessive. He did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail," Snow said.
The spokesman told reporters at a White House briefing that even with Mr. Bush's decision, Libby remains with a felony conviction on his record, two years' probation, a $250,000 fine and probable loss of his legal career. "So this is hardly a slap on the wrist," Snow said. "It is a very severe penalty.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who sentenced Libby to prison, declined Tuesday to discuss the case or his views on sentencing. "To now say anything about sentencing on the heels of yesterday's events will inevitably be construed as comments on the president's commutation decision, which would be inappropriate," the judge said in an e-mail.
With prison seeming all but certain for Libby, Mr. Bush on Monday suddenly spared the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. His move came just five hours after a federal appeals court panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. The Bureau of Prisons had already assigned Libby a prison identification number.
Reporters pressed Snow several times on whether the president might eventually grant a full pardon to Libby, who had been convicted of lying and conspiracy in the CIA leak investigation. The press secretary declined to say anything categorically.
"The reason I will say I'm not going to close a door on a pardon is simply this: that Scooter Libby may petition for one," Snow said. "But the president has done what he thinks is appropriate to resolve this case."
"There is always a possibility — or there's an avenue open — for anybody to petition for consideration of a pardon," he added.
Asked whether Cheney had weighed in on the decision to commute Libby's sentence, Snow said, "I don't have direct knowledge. But on the other hand, the president did consult with most senior officials, and I'm sure that everybody had an opportunity to share their views."
Democrats sharply criticized Mr. Bush's decision. Republicans were more subdued, with some welcoming the decision and some conservatives saying Mr. Bush should have gone further.
"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 Mr. Bush's decision showed the president "condones criminal conduct."
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri applauded the decision, saying, "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."
Perhaps the most colorful response belonged to Illinois Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin: "When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules — one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America. Even Paris Hilton had to go to jail. No one in this administration should be above the law."
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 Mr. Bush's action and continued to believe in his innocence.
However, Libby remains the highest-ranking White House official convicted of a crime since the Iran-Contra affair.
"Anyway you slice it, this isn't a great moment for President Bush, historian Douglas Brinkley told CBS' The Early Show. "History will not look kindly on the president for rendering this verdict."
Libby 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."
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, a likely Republican candidate for president, said, "While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the president's decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life."
In addition to the $250,000 fine, Libby must endure 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 Mr. Bush's Iraq policy.
"For him to turn around and offer clemency to a traitor in a case in which his office and the office of the vice president are directly implicated is an outrage and Americans should be outraged," Wilson said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
