As reported on ABC News, convicted felon Scooter Libby was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, in addition he will serve 2 years of probation after completion of his jail time and a fine of $250,000.
Federal Judge Reggie Walton sentence was in line with Patrick Fitzgerald’s recommendation of 30-37 months. In true Bush Administration fashion, Scooter takes no responsibility for his actions, as noted by Fitzgerald in his sentencing memorandum: (emphasis mine)
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in his sentencing memorandum, filed last month: “Mr. Libby maintains that despite his conviction, he is totally innocent. He has expressed no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility, and no recognition that there is anything he should have done differently.”
Supporters and friends of Libby had asked for leniency, since he was a high-ranking government official who was serving the public in his position at the White House.
As for supporters and friends, it’s the who’s who of corruption and scandals. The Smoking Gun has the letters, heading up the list is Don Rumsfeld, throw in Wolfowitz and John Bolton and that might have put judge Walton over the top in putting Libby in jail.
UPDATE (by David): As noted in the comments, Judge Walton will decide next week whether Libby will remain free on bond pending appeal; early indications were that Walton was disinclined to allow it, but he is allowing both sides to brief the issue. Meanwhile, here’s Bill Kristol on the terrible injustice done to the felonious Scooter Libby:
Who, Me?
Bush evades his responsibility with respect to Libby.
by William Kristol
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Will Bush pardon Libby? Apparently not–even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, noting that the appeals process was underway, said, “Given that and in keeping with what we have said in the past, the president has not intervened so far in any other criminal matter and he is going to decline to do so now.”
So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he’s for as long as he doesn’t have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage–well, that’s nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?
Well, so much for Republicans as the party of law and order.
If he does, then he won’t serve a day, since they can drag the appeal out until presidential pardon-land is reached after November 08…
The judge didn’t make a ruling but instead stated that the bail hearing will be held on Thursday. Hopefully, no bail and he’ll need to surrender within 72 hours.
I hope the right leans on him hard to pardon before the election, if only to further disintegrate the Rove coalition.
Scooter for sure, Jonathan Pollard (serving time as a spy, Israel still upset because Clinton welshed on the deal to free him), Lawrence King (served time for the bank collapse in the 80’s and accused child exploiter), Jack Abramoff (serving time for buying politicians), the VP and his staff (like a Nixon pardon), and, like Clinton, anyone with the money to buy a pardon. Any others come to mind?
One can only hope the pardon is necessary.
…Libby’s conviction is something of a side-show in Plamegate. He was convicted, not for having disclosed the fact that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent, but for obstruction of justice. Richard Armitage, the person who apparently actually disclosed her identity to Robert Novak, wasn’t even charged. In my view, that was something of a travesty.
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By and large, it was the disclosure of Plame’s identity to Novak that was the problem, and it showed that the Bush malAdministration really has no interest in national security. The disclosure wouldn’t put her life in danger, but it might very will have put the lives of the CIA intelligence assets that she was managing in other countries in danger. Moreover, the disclosure might very well suggest that potential CIA intelligence assets should not become such assets, because the US government itself might put their lives in danger for political purposes.
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I had long been wondering how the supposed reason that Plame was outed would somehow damage her husband, Joe Wilson, or undercut his op-ed piece in the July 1973 NYTimes. That never made any sense. I have since learned that Plame was also responsible for a CIA section that was charged with finding grounds for the US going to war against Iraq–WMDs, for example–and her section was unable to sign off on their request. It strikes me that that was a more plausible reason for the Bush malAdministration outing her. Payback.
If a Democratic administration had done what the Bush team did in outing a covert agent, the right wing zealots would be absolutely shrieking the word “treason” in higher and higher crescendos.
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The right just wants the whole thing to go away and the left doesn’t seem to want to do anything about it either. One would expect some ambitious young Dems would have their cross-hairs on Rove and his wicked toadies. It is a sad commentary on the lack of grapes in the Democratic Party on a national level. The only one in the legislature with any real grapes is Ted Kennedy and his are, unfortunately, totally pickled.
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I hope Scooter skates on this one though. He is not the evil doer here. How can anyone be down on a 55 year old guy named “Scooter?” Now a puffy, dragon belly white, cold and calculating guy named Karl is another story altogether. This is Karl with a K not Carl with a C which is another story entirely.
…no doubt about it. But the Republican party is the party that tags themselve with the “national security” mantra. And they denigrate the Dems for ignoring national security.
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It’s hypocrisy, of course. False advertising. Whatever you want to call it.
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I am neither Democrat nor Republican. But the first thing that I thought of when I heard of the Plame outing was what I described above. The Republican “national security” hypocrisy was palpable.