Uproar as Bush saves Libby from Jail Term

Uproar as Bush saves Libby from Jail Term
By Andrew Ward in Kennebunkport
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: July 2 2007 23:00 | Last updated: July 3 2007 00:49


President George W. Bush on Monday commuted the 30-month prison sentence handed to Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to vice president Dick Cheney, for lying and obstructing justice.

The decision represented a political thunderbolt from Mr Bush and sparked immediate uproar among Democrats, who accused the president of overturning the rule of law.

Mr Bush had been under intense pressure from some influential Republicans to spare Mr Libby, a longtime pillar of the party establishment, from jail.

The move came hours after a federal appeals panel refused a final plea for Mr Libby’s prison term to be delayed, making his incarceration imminent.

“I respect the jury’s verdict,” said Mr Bush, in a two-page statement explaining his decision. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr Libby is excessive.”

Mr Bush declined to pardon Mr Libby, leaving intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation – a move that legal experts described as highly unusual.

“My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr Libby,” he said. “The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged.”

Mr Libby was convicted in March of lying to authorities and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of a CIA operative’s identity by a Bush administration official in the run up to the war in Iraq.

Valerie Plame, the CIA agent involved, is the wife of Joseph Wilson, a former US ambassador, who accused the administration of manipulating intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to build its case for war.

Mr Libby was the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s.

Mr Bush noted that the sentencing judge had rejected the advice of the probation office for a lesser sentence, including the possibility of home confinement.

“The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted,” said Mr Bush. “It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr Libby’s case is an appropriate exercise of this power.”

Some political analysts viewed the move as an attempt to restore morale among Mr Bush’s conservative base - much of which viewed the case against Mr Libby as a liberal conspiracy - after a torrid few months of political setbacks for the Republican party.

But the decision threatened to further poison the political atmosphere in Washington and galvanise Democrats to step up a series of investigations into alleged wrongdoing by the Bush administration.

With his approval rating already close to record lows and forced to step down in 2009, Mr Bush has little to lose politically from Monday’s decision.

But, while the move will please some Republicans, it also creates danger for the party by giving Democrats fresh ammunition ahead of next year’s elections and risks alienating moderate voters.

A recent poll showed that more than 70 per cent of Americans were opposed to Mr Bush’s pardoning Mr Libby.

Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, described the president’s decision was “disgraceful”

“Libby’s conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq War. Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone,” he said.

Mr Reid added: “The constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own Vice President’s chief of staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.”

John Conyers, chairman of House Judiciary Committee, said: “This decision is inconsistent with the rule of law and sends a horrible signal to the American people.”