Newsweek: Friends in High Places ... Why Bush Gave Libby a Pass

[RedEarth]

By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
July 16, 2007 issue - As is often the case in the Bush White House, it was a decision made swiftly, and with stealth. For weeks, allies of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby had aggressively lobbied the president to pardon Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. Libby's powerful supporters—including major GOP fund-raisers like Florida developer Melvin Sembler, the chairman of his legal-defense trust—argued that Libby's conviction in March in the CIA leak case was a miscarriage of justice. Libby's allies pressed their argument with White House aides but got nowhere. George W. Bush's senior staff was under strict instructions: listen politely, but give away nothing about what the president might ultimately do.

Behind the scenes, Bush was intensely focused on the matter, say two White House advisers who were briefed on the deliberations, but who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. Bush asked Fred Fielding, his discreet White House counsel, to collect information on the case. Fielding, anticipating the Libby issue would be on his plate, had been gathering material for some time, including key trial transcripts. Uncharacteristically, Bush himself delved into the details. He was especially keen to know if there was compelling evidence that might contradict the jury's verdict that Libby had lied to a federal grand jury about when—and from whom—he learned the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, wife of Iraq War critic Joe Wilson. But Fielding, one of the advisers tells NEWSWEEK, reluctantly concluded that the jury had reached a reasonable verdict: the evidence was strong that Libby testified falsely about his role in the leak.

The president was conflicted. He hated the idea that a loyal aide would serve time. Hanging over his deliberations was Cheney, who had said he was "very disappointed" with the jury's verdict. Cheney did not directly weigh in with Fielding, but nobody involved had any doubt where he stood. "I'm not sure Bush had a choice," says one of the advisers. "If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president." (White House officials and Cheney declined to comment. "As you know, we don't discuss internal deliberations," a Cheney spokeswoman tells NEWSWEEK.)

..........

In part, Bush may have stopped short of a full pardon precisely to keep Libby and other White House aides away from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Investigators in Congress are eager to call Libby to testify about the Plame case and prewar Iraq intel—an invitation Libby can continue to resist by claiming he can't talk as long as his appeal remains alive in the courts.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19649910/site/newsweek/

[LiberalFighter]

1. If he has been commuted, doesn't have to serve probation and didn't use his own money

to pay the fine isn't the appeal a moot point?

[MasonJar]

2. Spin from the WH; it is evident that Libby would walk because of what

he knows and was going to expose at the trial until....

[Jane Austin]

3. Marcy Wheeler and Spencer Ackerman were on with Sam Seder yesterday.

Marcy reeled of all the instances in which Isikoff reported the administration line or, more accurately, the Karl Rove line on issues in the Plame investigation.

She went so far as to say that Isikoff's "breaking" Richard Armitage's role in the leaks pretty much kept Rove from being prosecuted.

Ackerman defended Isikoff, saying that he had written many stories that were highly critical of the Bush administration, and saying that he had a lot of respect for Isikoff.

My own impression is that every time a revelation bubbled to the surface during the Plame investigation, Isikoff soom appeared on television and downplayed its significance.

It's not that he would refute it, so much as that he would downplay it's importance, leaving the impression that it was all just normal goings on in Our Nation's Capital.

[TrogL]

4. Dubya is a sock puppet

If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president.

Cheney is running the country. Since he claims not to be a member of the executive, that makes him a dictator.