Posted on 07/02/2007 2:45:21 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
Edited on 07/02/2007 3:05:31 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Foxnews alert.. libby sentence commuted
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STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected Lewis Libby’s request to remain free on bail while pursuing his appeals for the serious convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice. As a result, Mr. Libby will be required to turn himself over to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his prison sentence.
I have said throughout this process that it would not be appropriate to comment or intervene in this case until Mr. Libby’s appeals have been exhausted. But with the denial of bail being upheld and incarceration imminent, I believe it is now important to react to that decision.
From the very beginning of the investigation into the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name, I made it clear to the White House staff and anyone serving in my administration that I expected full cooperation with the Justice Department. Dozens of White House staff and administration officials dutifully cooperated.
After the investigation was under way, the Justice Department appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Counsel in charge of the case. Mr. Fitzgerald is a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged.
This case has generated significant commentary and debate. Critics of the investigation have argued that a special counsel should not have been appointed, nor should the investigation have been pursued after the Justice Department learned who leaked Ms. Plame’s name to columnist Robert Novak. Furthermore, the critics point out that neither Mr. Libby nor anyone else has been charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act or the Espionage Act, which were the original subjects of the investigation. Finally, critics say the punishment does not fit the crime: Mr. Libby was a first-time offender with years of exceptional public service and was handed a harsh sentence based in part on allegations never presented to the jury.
Others point out that a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable. They say that had Mr. Libby only told the truth, he would have never been indicted in the first place.
Both critics and defenders of this investigation have made important points. I have made my own evaluation. In preparing for the decision I am announcing today, I have carefully weighed these arguments and the circumstances surrounding this case.
Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.
I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.
My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.
The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr. Libby’s case is an appropriate exercise of this power.
Let’s see the big picture.
Quite a few freepers on a recent thread adamantly predicted that the President would not lift one finger to help Scooter. Some of them are posting here and badmouthing his commutation and picking apart his every word and demanding he pardon the border agents or whatever. Others aren’t even on this thread bc it doesn’t look good for them that their dire prediction proved false. One or two have been on and said they were wrong before, but mostly, zip, zero, nada.
THE HEADLINE SHOULD BE THAT DESPITE THEIR DIRE PREDICTIONS HE DID HELP SCOOTER!
Those who claim an all-knowing anti-Bush wisdom in every respect about the President need to back off their off-the-chart anti-Bush diatribes for anything and everything. One respected FReeper even predicted based on a WaPo article that he would abandon his embryonic stem cell position in the future and bewailed that he would do such a thing. Hasn’t happened and no reason to think it will. Already condemned him as if it were GOING to happen. Same type of thing on this issue.
People need to get a grip and see what some of them have become. I hope they will but I fear most won’t. Their anti-Bush on everything has become like their breath of life.
You’re on the wrong forum...There’s no hate here for GWB..We simply disagree with him and are unwilling to go along with him when we know he’s wrong..NO AMNESTY, BUILD THE D@M FENCE..That’s what he must continue to hear !!
Tes indeed!
Almost every post is F word this, or S word that, or cursing God.
I know. Really makes them sound soooo sophisticated.
I’m afraid so! I’m waiting to see how many malcontents are going to come out of the woodwork and give GWB an “attaboy”.
chirp chirp...
(just as I suspected...nothing but crickets chirping!)
Agreed...I hope (and expect) to see links to his support and defense fund here on FR.
She kept saying it was for leaking classified info but no one leaked classified info.
What does this thread have to do with Amnesty, Newby? Nothing whatsoever
WORTH WATCHING .... CHRISSY MATTHEWS ON WITH DAVID SHUSTER ... NOW !!
You forgot
Chimpy Bushhitler is to blame!
lol
I agree with all you wrote. I have seen this site turn into DU and was getting more and more uncomfortable coming on FR. Maybe as more time passes from the abomination that was the immigration bill, posters here on FR will recover from their BDS.
You’ve been offered explanations
yet you claim to be confused?
It seems that Libby’s interests
will be served, and not abused.
By having opportunity
to clear his reputation,
appealing the decision
is a chance for refutation.
Wouldn’t you appreciate the
fullest vindication?
Pardoning with no appeal
gives guilty indication.
Good news!
watched just a few minutes of Shuster...he was fit to be tied...thought he would blow a gasket..I loved it!
Just went and donated...:)
Man, does that ever feel good. This was a hideous, hideous partisan character assassination and injustice.
Kudos to you, President Bush. As another poster said...it is good to be able to support you.
And what ALWAYS burns my blood is: forgetting to mention the word “SOUGHT” ... that they had information Saddam SOUGHT
yellowcake uranium from NIGER .. NOT that he was successful!!!
That lie is still being perpetuated .. and she said the same damn thing !
GGRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I didn’t say it had anything to do with amnesty, its just a rallying cry so we don’t forget!! Where is the hate ??
Kaslin and I know the difference between “I disagree with the President bc of AB and C”, and what this forum has overwhelmingly become.
Either you haven’t widely read here or you are lying.
I myself disagree with him on the illegal immigration issue but have been sickened and appalled beyond words at the hate speech directed against him, not just for that issue but now virtually everything.
“I give him a C- ...What say you??”
In the book of American Presidents, this is how it will look.
George H. W. Bush Page 575 - 645
William Jefferson Clinton Page 645
George W. Bush Page 645 - 750
W. has accomplished a great deal in his time in office and historians will be very kind to him and will rank him higly.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is how it is going to be.
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