Washington – President Bush came under pressure from supporters of Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Wednesday to pardon the former White House aide convicted this week of perjury and obstruction of justice, setting up a difficult decision that could inflame an already volatile political environment.
Libby’s attorney and allies said Bush should not wait for Libby to be sentenced and should use his executive power to spare Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff the risk of prison for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents about his role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA officer.
But the prospect of a pardon triggered instant condemnation from Democrats and caution signals from some Republicans wary of another furor.
Defense lawyers for Libby said they were focused on seeking a new trial and appealing Tuesday’s jury verdict, while making clear that they believe the president should step in.
“Our No. 1 goal is to see Scooter’s conviction wiped out by the courts and see him vindicated,” attorney William Jeffress Jr. said in an interview.
In his first comments on the case since the verdict, Bush told CNN that he has to “respect that conviction” but “was sad for a man who had worked in my administration.”
He did not rule out a pardon but implied it is not imminent.
“I’m pretty much going to stay out of it until the course – the case has finally run its final – the course it’s going to take,” he told Univision.
One of the 11 jurors who voted unanimously to convict Libby said in an interview with MSNBC that she would favor a pardon. The juror, Ann Redington, explained her thinking by saying “it kind of bothers me” that no one was charged with the alleged crime initially under investigation – exposing the identity of a covert CIA officer – and that Libby “got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.”
No one knows better than Libby how politically hazardous a pardon can be. Before he became Cheney’s chief of staff, he served as an attorney for Marc Rich, the financier whose pardon by President Clinton in the last hours of his administration provoked a storm of complaints.
The pardon power is enshrined in the Constitution. Bush has granted 113 pardons, nearly a modern low, and has never pardoned anyone who had not already completed his sentence and been released from prison. He has commuted the sentences of three others.
Libby faces a likely prison sentence of 1 1/2 to three years for lying about his role in the disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, wife of war critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson. But he could avoid jail time until after the 2008 presidential elections through appeals, according to legal specialists, timing that would make a pardon more politically plausible.
Libby’s defense team intends to seek a new trial and possibly appeal his conviction. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has scheduled sentencing for June 5, when many lawyers expect him to allow Libby to remain out of prison pending appeals.
But if special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald insists that Libby begin serving his sentence right away and Walton agrees, it could force the question sooner.
Some Republican lawmakers said Libby does not deserve the punishment he faces. “Mr. Libby is a good candidate for a pardon, I’ll put it that way,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Other Republicans warned that a pardon by Bush would make a bad situation worse. “If he does pardon Scooter Libby, then it will be construed, whether correctly or not, as an admission on his part that there’s culpability that goes beyond the foolishness of an individual in the administration and that Scooter took a bullet for the team,” said former House majority leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
