Think Progress

Libby’s pardon problem.

By Nico Pitney on Mar 7th, 2007 at 9:13 pm

Libby’s pardon problem.

Newsweek reports that Scooter Libby “does not qualify to even be considered for a presidential pardon under Justice Department guidelines,” which in part “require a petitioner to wait a period of at least five years after conviction or release from confinement (whichever is later) before filing a pardon application.” President Bush can easily waive the rules, but up until now he “seems to have followed those guidelines religiously.”



64 Responses to “Libby’s pardon problem.”

  1. Badmoodman says:

    Bush follow rules? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!


  2. Zooey says:

    Don’t count on that pardon, Scooter. If Chimpy breaks rank with the pardon tradition, it won’t be for you.


  3. TripMaster Monkey says:

    President Bush can easily waive the rules, but up until now he “seems to have followed those guidelines religiously.”

    Remember, this is the same President who didn’t use his veto power once in the first five years of his presidency.

    The only reason Chimpy has followed the pardon guidelines religiously is because until now, he hasn’t had any reason to ignore them.


  4. Exley says:

    Well, if President Clinton can pardon Marc Rich, who was a fugitive from justice, faced charges far more serious than Libby’s misdeeds, and fled the country rather than face prosecution, than Libby, who is stayed and faced the charges against him, should certainly be eligible for a pardon.

    In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.

    Ironically, one of Rich’s lawyers was…Scooter Libby.


  5. Augustus says:

    Have the rules changed? Bush Sr. pardoned six people (e.g. Weinberger and Elliot Abrams) even BEFORE some of them went on trial for Iran Contra (the pardons vacated one conviction, three guilty pleas and two pending cases).

    http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-pardon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


  6. Jessica says:

    I do not think that Bush will pardon Libby especially when he is going under such tremendious pressure coming from not only from democrats but also from american public in general.
    I think the reason why I think he will not pardon Libby is because it will give him an excuse to pardon Cheney if of course the plan does not fall.


  7. Hello... says:

    I doubt these ‘rules’ have ever been followed ‘religiously’ by any president. Off the top of my head, I think Susan McDougal was pardonned by Clinton well before this supposed 5-year mark. I forget who now, but I’m sure GHWB pardonned people in the Iran Contra thing before they were 5 years out of prison. Probably “every” president has flouted these ‘guidelines’ before.

    Although, it certainly makes a great loophole to back out of a sticky situation if there’s a huge clamor to pardon someone still in prison, etc.


  8. JPV says:

  9. JPV says:

    I do not think that Bush will pardon Libby especially when he is going under such tremendious pressure coming from not only from democrats but also from american public in general.
    I think the reason why I think he will not pardon Libby is because it will give him an excuse to pardon Cheney if of course the plan does not fall.

    Comment by Jessica

    He’ll pardon him at the end of his term.


  10. firehead says:

    Hey scumbag libs, you seem quiet on how Clinton pardoned his scumbag half brother. Clinton was a crook. Bush is a good man. Can you accept that FACT?


  11. Uncle Ho says:

    The decider following rules? That’ll be the G*d damn day.


  12. Exley says:

    Speaking of pardons, interesting comment from a Libby juror tonight on MSNBC:

    LIBBY JUROR: PARDON HIM
    Wed Mar 07 2007 19:21:48 ET

    MSNBC host Chris Matthews spoke with Libby juror Ann Redington on HARDBALL. Juror [#10] says she would support a Bush pardon for Libby.

    Transcript:

    Chris: You’re for a pardon out of sympathy for the defendant.

    Ann: Yeah, I think in the big picture, um, it kind of bothers me that there was this whole big crime being investigated and he got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.

    Chris: Which is the leaking of a CIA agents name.

    Ann: Exactly.

    End


  13. Nat says:

    Bush is a good man.
    Comment by firehead — March 7, 2007 @ 9:43 pm

    Are you on crack?


  14. Zooey says:

    Exley,

    Is that the juror who was dismissed?


  15. Zooey says:

    Bush is a good man. Can you accept that FACT?
    Comment by firehead

    Prove it, fireant.



  16. WaltTheMan says:

    Ford pardoned Nixon befor the plane taking the Ex to California touched the ground. W can pardon everyone except himself. I doubt that President Pelosi will follow Ford’s example.


  17. Exley says:

    More from the Libby juror:

    Juror calls on Bush to pardon Libby

    MSNBC
    Updated: 6:23 p.m. ET March 7, 2007

    WASHINGTON – Saying “I don’t want him to go to jail,” a member of the jury that convicted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case called Wednesday for President Bush to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.

    The woman, Ann Redington, said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that she cried when the verdicts against Libby were read Tuesday. She said Libby seemed to be “a really nice guy.”

    Redington said “it was very difficult — it was hard” to vote to convict Libby, who was found guilty of four of five felony counts accusing him of lying to a federal grand jury and the FBI. Prosecutors said he hoped to derail a special prosecutor’s investigation of the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame, a covert CIA operative…

    “I didn’t want to see him and his wife and say he was guilty of a crime,” Redington told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. But she she said she had no choice given the evidence.

    “I think he got caught in a difficult situation where he got caught in the initial lie, and it just snowballed,” she said.


  18. Zooey says:

  19. Uncle Ho says:

    ahhhh, I see we have the return of the delusional misnamed firehead. He is our resident crackhead troll, turning his mind into a brussel sprout.


  20. Marie says:

    But Bush and Gonzales write their own rules and regulations don’t they? If they can’t rewrite something, he just adds a signing statement saying he doesn’t believe in it and does what he wants.


  21. Exley says:

    You’re welcome, Zooey.


  22. Zooey says:

    …turning his mind into a brussel sprout.
    Comment by Uncle Ho

    That good?


  23. JPark says:

    Exley, she doesn’t want him going to jail. She, and the rest of the jurors, wants Cheney and Rove to get a bite at that apple.


  24. Willy says:

    President Bush can easily waive the rules, but up until now he “seems to have followed those guidelines religiously.”

    And of course we all know that George Bush is a very, very religious man.

    (Can I throw up now?)


  25. Briseadh na Faire says:

    You know, if perjury isn’t a “real crime” then let’s end the hypocricy and repeal the laws criminalizing perjury.

    If obstruction of justice isn’t a “real crime” then let’s end the hypocricy and repeal the laws criminalizing “obstruction of justice.”

    And if lying to the FBI isn’t a “real crime” then let’s end the hypocricy and repeal the laws criminalizing lying to the FBI.

    Then let’s pardon everyone convicted of such crimes. We can start with Martha Stewart.

    But then, what will that do to the justice system, criminal and civil, if people can lie under oath, obstruct justice, impede investigations and there won’t be any consequences?


  26. Bluestocking says:

    “President Bush can easily waive the rules…”

    **************************************

    C’mon, everybody…a show of hands. Who here sincerely believes that President Bush will not waive the rules and not pardon Libby?

    Anyone…?

    Anyone at all…?

    Didn’t think so. GWB has already bent or broken so many other guidelines which the President is supposed to follow — many of them considerably more significant than this — so why wouldn’t he bend or break this one as well?


  27. Marie says:

    Redington never said Libby wasn’t guilty — in fact she said he is guilty. She just doesn’t like to think of him in jail for his crimes.
    She thinks the bigger crime was not on trial. His perjury was.


  28. Uncle Ho says:

    brussel sprout or coconut, it was a toss-up.


  29. AckSyn JAckSyn says:

    Bush is a good man. Can you accept that FACT?
    Comment by firehead

    I can. But he lives in a bubble and relies upon his advisors. Gut instinct is not always correct. =)


  30. JRoyale says:

    I think Bush will set a record in terms of the number of blanket pardons he hands out. There will only be two requirements to received such a pardon

    1) Have been absolutely loyal to Bush

    2) Served on the White House Staff

    I bet even members of the typing pool and the gardeners get them.


  31. AckSyn JAckSyn says:

    C’mon, everybody…a show of hands. Who here sincerely believes that President Bush will not waive the rules and not pardon Libby?

    Even if he didn’t Scooter would only serve 6 months to a year in a rest camp.


  32. JPark says:

    If you believe a megalomaniacal, narcissistic, sociopath can be a good man, sure.


  33. Uncle Ho says:

    Ack; I disagree BIG time. Good men don’t start illegal, immoral, and unjustified wars. Germans were hung at Nuremberg for doing just that.


  34. Dan says:

    Bush is a good man.

    Among unrepentant murderers with the blood of tens of thousands on their hands, George W. Bush might be considered a good man. Or he might not.


  35. Jay says:

    A Libby paron is a ’slam dunk’ to steal a phrase from an unintelligent man.

    Bush isn’t going to make the decision, he doesn’t make any decisions because he’s a moron and Cheney and his boys call the shots. They’re gonna call this one too. Shrub may sign the piece of paper and agree in his fratboy on the outside-mafioso on the inside style, but that decision has surely been made.

    They have no moral core. They’ve suspended habeas corpus and trampled every other inconvenient law that’s stood in their way while working their asses off to strengthen the concept of a unitary executive. This is one of the ultimate perks of the POTUS, a get out of jail free card. Of course he’s pardoned!

    I’m surprised that so many people out there don’t think a pardon is inevitable?


  36. chimpeach says:

    #28 Marie

    That Redington interview was irritating. She sounded to me like the kind of person who has no idea what the administration has been doing and isn’t curious enough to want to find out. Her giggly demeanor about the whole thing made me want to puke. I don’t care if Scooter Libby was the fall guy or if he seemed like a nice guy. If you’re going to lie to a grand jury, you need to do the sentence. The whole sentence.

    It’s not okay to derail a federal investigation, to cover for a bunch of crooks in the White House who lied us into an illegal war that’s caused the deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of people, and to help keep the president’s crimes a secret until after he gets re-elected. If you’re going to agree to take one for the team, you should be prepared to pay the whole price.


  37. angryvietnamvet says:

    “Bush is a good man….”….? Don’t make me puke.
    Bush is the worse piece of shit masquarading as a human i have ever encountered in my life…absolutely NO redeeming qualities…this type of evil vermin is an insult to humanity. Impeach. Try. Hang.


  38. Jay says:

    Hmm, I saw Reddington on Hardball too (with the fetching Kate O’B…vomiting in mouth) and I think I read earlier on FDL that she’s a lawyer. Sounds as though she tried to be fair and open minded (and she mentioned that she was apolitical), but she clearly was revealing her emotions tonight. She doesn’t realize the depths of sleaze that scooter is wrapped up in and unfortunately her public sentiment (he should be pardoned) will be trumpeted by the wingnuts as they push their “free scooty” agenda.


  39. AboveTheClouds says:

    Marc Rich was a crook, but he did not sit in on daily briefings with the Administration of the President of the United States. Ann Coulter must feel like Gary Condit did after 9-11. The events of 9-11 took Condit off the front page and Libby and the White House failures bumped Coulter below the fold. Until the next time she opens her yap.


  40. chimpeach says:

    #10 firehead

    Hey scumbag libs, you seem quiet on how Clinton pardoned his scumbag half brother. Clinton was a crook. Bush is a good man. Can you accept that FACT?

    You’re funny.


  41. Mr. Evil says:

    Hey firebug, all politicians are crooks you numbskull. Let me guess how old you are, 14 maybe 15? Why don’t you go play some video games.


  42. VerbalKint says:

    There seems to be a disconnect in this juror’s mind. If Libby is such a nice guy, why is he obstructing justice? If he was just “caught up” in the investigation of a bigger crime, why doesn’t he tell the truth about that crime to investigators? I am sure that Libby could plea bargain out of a jail sentence if he agreed to roll over on Cheney. It is the right thing to do anyway.


  43. AboveTheClouds says:

    It’s been pretty rough couple of weeks for the Republicans, wouldn’t you say?


  44. Bluedog49 says:

    Exley: “Well, if President Clinton can pardon Marc Rich, who was a fugitive from justice, faced charges far more serious than Libby’s misdeeds..”

    What a steaming pile of nonsense. Tax evasion is more serious than obstructing the investigation into the outing of a secret CIA asset???!!! You’re just plain crazy, Exley. Partisan hackery has clouded your senses.

    Let’s talk pardons. The Prime Minister of Israel personally asked Clinton to consider pardoning Mark Rich. Rich was guilty of tax evasion. George HW Bush pardoned a convicted heroin smuggler 2 years into a 55-year sentence for bringing heroin into the country. He pardoned three indicted co-conspirators from Iran-Contra who were scheduled to testify under oath about his part in the conspiracy. He pardoned Armand Hammer, President of Occidental Petroleum after he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions to the Repub party. Your “liberal press,” the NYT, published one article on Bush’s pardons and 17 on Clinton’s pardon.


  45. Shane says:

    38 Bush is a good man….”….? Don’t make me puke.
    Bush is the worse piece of shit masquarading as a human
    Hey angryvietnamvet,
    Calling Bush shit is insulting to shit.
    A “Good Man” would have been in Viet Nam with you. And for all those nut jobs who think he’s a moral guy – do moral guys steal the Presidency from the man who legitimately won the election and the popular vote. “Good Man” my ass.


  46. Exley says:

    #45 BlueDog,

    He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis


  47. Valiant Penus says:

    In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes.

    thats about 1/10th of money that the person who provided us with most of the information for the iraq war embezzled. (Ahmed Chalabi)

    Rich was convicted of embezzling. Libby was convicted of preventing the truth from coming out about the fraudulent use of information to go to war. Which one is worse is highly debateable, considering that this war has spawned an amount of embezzling that dwarf’s Rich’s. 9 BILLION went missing on Bremer’s watch alone…


  48. Valiant Penus says:

    #
    He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis

    sayeth exlaxley

    so your obviously going to condemn convicted multibillion dollar embezzler ahmed Chalabi, one of Scooter’s cohorts, and anyone involved in selling arms to Iran secretly during the Iran-Contra scandal as well right?

    dude, your desparate, pathetic attempts to somehow equate the minor scandals of Clinton with Bush’s world altering fraud and criminality that led to the iraq war and all its consequences is beyond laughable. “we know where the weapons are”. “we know without a doubt that saddam has weapons of mass destruction” “saddam has involvement with the people who did 9-11″ “saddam support al queda”.

    if lying to trick the american people into supporting a war isnt an impeachable offense, it should be.

    no one but you and your 20 percenters is doing anything but laughing at your feeble comparisons. it must be comforting for bush to know that no matter how low bush and his cohorts sink, he will always have people like you desparately trying to delude themselves into thinking hes a good man. soon your ilk will be known as merely “percenters”.. not even “twenty percenters”


  49. Valiant Penus says:

    http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9368

    Prosecutor says lies shielded Cheney

    By R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post

    Hey Exlaxley,
    Its very possible the crimes your boy was trying to conceal (obstruction of justice = trying to impede, or hinder possible criminal prosecutions or conceal possible criminal activity) were far more serious than any tax cheat.

    Do everything you want to try and minimize the current criminal record of this administation and its cohorts, but that record will soon grow longer, and not only that, but anyone whose in touch with reality (this may not include people like exlaxley and pudrick1) knows that anyones whose been convicted of a felony has almost certainly commited numerous other felonies that slipped under the radar.


  50. ann coulter says:

    Bush is a good man. Can you accept that FACT?
    Comment by firehead

    oy, who can argue with logic like that? (eyeroll)


  51. midwestblue says:

    It’s no surprise that MSNBC would find a juror who thinks Libby should be pardoned. She said she could picture him at a rodeo in his cowboy hat. She felt sorry for him. Doesn’t matter–just so long as she followed the rules and convicted him. She may be gullible, but she followded the rules.


  52. ace says:

    Regarding the Marc Rich Pardon:

    Clinton was set up by Israel, period.

    Monica was a Mossad “Swallow” on a mission to entrap the President – and Israel employed its own (COMVERSE) wiretapping technology to tap phone sex between Lewinski and the President. GHW Bush was in on it too, and that is where, when the alliance between the Bush Cabal and the NeoCONs (Likud/David Rockefeller) was solidified.

    Another “Swallow,” Chandra Levy, hooked up with Intelliegence Committee member Gary Condit for the purpose of compromising him in order to ensure that he went along with the 9/11 plans. Levy told her parents that she had some “big news” to share with them when she flew home to visit. She was killed days later, before she got the chance to reveal what she knew.

    As Chandra Levy was signing off of her computer for the very last time prior to going to “meet someone,” at that very moment, Gary Condit and Dick Cheney were together in Cheney’s office – the perfect alibai.

    Remember that it was revealed that AT&T had been conducting illegal warrantless wiretapping on the government’s behalf in the months PRIOR TO 9/11? Was it these taps that picked up the leave phone call with her parents, or Irael’s Mossad? Either way, the results were the same. Remember that in the months preceding 9/11, the ABLE DANGER intelliegence program was shut down? These wiretaps likely revealed that the 9/11 operation was being compromised, and Cheney ordered it shut down.

    Clinton was set-up by GHW Bush and Israel – and the PNAC plan was implemented, with 9/11 as the pretext – the “New (Richard Pearle) Harbor.”

    Ken Lay, GHW Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were co-conspirators in the FAKE California energy crisis, designed specifically to establish fear of energy shortages in the minds of the citizens of the United States to create the mindset that has led to our acceptance of TREASON, TYRANNY AND TORTURE in return for oil.


  53. the fly-man says:

    Where is the apology from the Vice President to Tim Russert? Let’s see, Tim Russert was the best medium for the VP to prattle and pontificate and diffuse real facts, the perfect forum for his policies, and Libby tried to make Russert the stooge to fall for Libby? Talk about meat grinder. How tragically ironic.


  54. Marie says:

    #37 chimpeach
    And I don’t for a minute think that the rightwingnuts won’t use that interview to bolster their own false argument that “no crime was committed.”
    I, too, was uncomfortable watching that interview, because despite her saying that Libby IS GUILTY, what carried over was she thinks he is a “nice guy” and she hopes he doesn’t have to be punished for his crime by going to prison.


  55. Grand Moff Texan says:

    How many of those pardoned by Bush Sr. on Christmas Day, 1992, had even been convicted?
    .


  56. Mark says:

    Anyone got any information on how many of these people calling for Bush to pardon Libby also called for an ennd to the constitutionally authorized presidential pardon right that the right wing wanted to revoke when Clinton left offfice?


  57. marcus robinson says:

    This doesn’t mean anything to these scumbags in the white house. Bush will pardon the man.


  58. Obstructionist says:

    Suppose we’ve got a suspected terrorist in custody and he’s lying to protect other terrorists plotting on killing thousands of innocents. Wouldn’t that be obstruction? Would that justify torture? What if his name was Libby and he was protecting the Bush cabal – the biggest threat to our Republic from within that we’ve ever faced?

    Obstruction is a crime.



  59. Heather Annastasia Siladi says:

    Obstructionist,

    Right on! Torture Libby!


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  61. Raymond Funamoto says:

    CHIMPya follows the rules EXCEPT when it involves a MEMBER of HIS and Cheney’s INNER CIRCLE of Bushland Uber Allies. WE MUST REMEMBER TO POUNCE ON CHIMPya and Cheney and IMPEACH THEM BOTH WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE IF THEY DARE TO TRY AND PARDON THEIR BUTT-BOY Scooter Libby!!!!!


  62. BrownieDude says:

    Hey,

    I just wanted to let you know that PardonLibby.org is for sale on eBay. The auction is here:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130088305011&rd=1&rd=1



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