Scooter Libby: Guilty
This just in:
Jury convicts Libby on four chargesCommentary to follow...
Verdict in CIA leak case reached on 10th day of deliberations
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 11:56 a.m. CT March 6, 2007
WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.
posted by WCharles @ 3/06/2007 12:01:00 PM
4 Comments:
But, will Bush pardon him?
If Libby loses his appeal or if the appeal has not been determined by January '09, I don't think there is any doubt that a pardon will be issued.
The pardon will come at the very end of Bush's administration.
At this point, I agree. The appeals process will likely take at least a year, and in one sense , there is no need to issue a pardon until that process is finished and has gone against Libby. If he wins on appeal, there will be no need for a pardon.
However, there are other factors which could come into play. Before going into those, I will say that as long as Libby knows he can get a pardon, I don't think he will turn on the administration. Still, I get a feeling that he was made the fall guy and that he was largely left on his own during all of this. The fact that his own lawyer depicted the Bush administration as "wheels off" probably did not sit well with George and Big Dick, and why would Libby allow his lawyer to make such a claim--and risk alienating George and Big Dick--if he was truly being supported by the administration? [Man, my custom tinfoil hat feels great!]
Anyway, does Bush pardon Libby right now to end all the legal proceedings and make sure that Libby does not tell all he knows? Or does Bush wait until the end of his term so that a pardon does not directly affect his remaining time in office?
Regardless of what happens, this matter is not going away, and it is going to be a cloud over the Bush administration from now on.
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