Trump Pardons Scooter Libby, Who Lied To Prosecutors To Protect Dick Cheney (Probably)
After about a day of reporting that President Donald Trump was considering pardoning Scooter Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's onetime chief of staff, Trump went ahead and did it. In a White House statement announcing the pardon, Trump is quoted as saying, "I don't know Mr. Libby, but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life."
You'll be forgiven if you've forgotten what Libby got a felony conviction for in the first place, since the trial happened back in 2007. Libby was accused of outing Valerie Plame to reporters as a CIA agent in retaliation for an op-ed her husband wrote that was critical of the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq. He was ultimately convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to FBI agents about whether he discussed Plame's identity with reporters. President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence, sparing him prison time, but refused to accede to Cheney's request for a full pardon.
So why is Trump pardoning an architect of the Iraq War now? It might have something to do with his brand-new national security adviser. "Among the allies from the Bush administration who have argued that he was treated unfairly is John R. Bolton, an ally of Mr. Cheney's who served as Mr. Bush's ambassador to the United Nations," reports the Times.
Then there's the possibility that Trump is signaling his willingness to pardon those who protect him, just as Libby is presumed by many to have protected Cheney by lying to investigators. As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement,
This pardon sends a troubling signal to the President's allies that obstructing justice will be rewarded. The suggestion that those who lie under oath may be rewarded with pardons poses a threat to the integrity of the Special Counsel investigation, and to our democracy.
[via Ben Jacobs]
There's also the fact that the special prosecutor who convicted Libby, Patrick Fitzgerald, is buds with James Comey:
Mr. Fitzgerald was friends with James B. Comey, who was then the deputy attorney general who assigned him the investigation after the attorney general recused himself. Mr. Cheney long suspected that Mr. Comey was taking revenge for a dispute between them over the legality of a surveillance program.
Comey has a memoir out next week that is not flattering to Trump.
