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Libby sentenced to 30 months but gets support from Cheney |
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By Jackie Kucinich
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Posted: 06/06/07 08:26 PM [ET] |
I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison yesterday and fined $250,000 for perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators. He was also given two years’ probation.
But powerful House Republicans and others empathized with Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.
“The verdict was outrageous,” Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said during a meeting with reporters yesterday, adding that the conduct of lead prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald “has not been acceptable.”
When asked whether President Bush should pardon Libby, Blunt responded, “The president has not asked for advice on this, but personally I think this has gone on long enough.”
A Bush spokeswoman declined to speculate on whether he would pardon Libby, but said the president “would not intervene.”
Before issuing the verdict, Judge Reggie B. Walton remarked that he handed the sentence down with “a sense of sadness” because he respected Libby’s long career in government service.
“I have an individual I have to sentence,” he said. “I appreciate that sometimes people make mistakes.”
But he concluded that Libby failed to “meet the bar” dictated by his position.
Libby is the lone White House official sentenced in relation to the leaking of the name of former CIA operative Valerie Plame.
“He decided to reveal this individual’s name to the media on several occasions,” Walton said.
Libby, sentenced to the low end of the 30 to 37 months the prosecution had wanted, did not apologize or show remorse in his brief remarks. Instead, he thanked the court and its employees for their kindness and asked that Walton “will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life.”
Under federal-sentencing guidelines, the crimes that Libby committed usually carry a sentence of 15 to 20 months, with a maximum of 25 years in prison.
After the verdict, Cheney issued a statement expressing his sorrow for Libby and his family on a professional and personal level.
“I relied on him heavily in my capacity as secretary of defense and as vice president,” Cheney said. “I have always considered him to be a man of the highest intellect, judgment and personal integrity — a man fully committed to protecting the vital security interests of the United States and its citizens.”
He added that he hoped Libby would be vindicated on his appeal.
Libby’s legal team had argued that Cheney’s former aide should be spared jail time because of his lifelong commitment to public service, his mounting legal fees and the loss of his law license.
“If a person has engaged in exceptional efforts to help others in society, those personal and exceptional efforts can be considered by the sentencing court,” said Ted Wells, Libby’s defense attorney.
Walton has yet to rule on whether Libby will spend the time waiting for his appeal in prison. Instead, he said he would make a decision after a hearing scheduled for June 14.
Libby was convicted last March of four of the five counts of indictment brought up against him by the government, after which his legal team vowed to appeal.
Fitzgerald contended that Libby would not have a problem finding employment after serving his sentence, citing the 150 largely positive letters written by top former and current high-ranking U.S. officials.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger all wrote Walton expressing their faith and trust in Libby.
Libby’s lawyer cited those letters during the trial, reading aloud from several, including Wolfowitz’s statement.
In addition to Blunt, Libby garnered support from some other House members. Securities and Exchange Chairman and former Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) was among those who wrote letters on Libby’s behalf, describing his service to Congress and dedication as the legal adviser to the House Select Committee on U.S. National Security as “exceptionally admirable.”
Cox urged the judge to consider a lenient sentence, given Libby’s years of service.
Libby’s list of supporters spanned the ideological and career spectrum, from Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to conservative pundit Mary Matalin and her husband, Democratic political consultant James Carville.
After the hearing, the Fitzgerald and Libby camps departed through doors on opposite ends of the courthouse, causing reporters and a handful of Code Pink protesters to scurry apart. Upon exiting the courthouse, Libby stared straight ahead, expressionless as he drifted through the scrum of cameras and reporters before getting into a black Lincoln Town Car, which quickly pulled away.
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