Washington – The White House on Thursday made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush’s decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
“I don’t know what Arkansan is for ‘chutzpah,’ but this is a gigantic case of it,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.
In his commutation decision, Bush left a $250,000 fine. Libby paid the fine Thursday.
Libby’s friends and supporters have raised more than $5 million to cover legal fees and were continuing to raise money, but Libby paid the fine himself, according to someone close to the fund who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the account are private.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has scheduled hearings Wednesday on Bush’s commutation of Libby’s 2 1/2-year sentence.
“Well, fine, knock himself out,” Snow said of Conyers. “I mean, perfectly happy. And while he’s at it, why doesn’t he look at Jan. 20, 2001?”
In the closing hours of his presidency, Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich.
Conyers said the hearings would include pardons made by Clinton, former President George H.W. Bush and possibly other past presidents.
“We won’t need to review each and every one of them, but the whole idea is to examine to what use this part of our criminal law is being put and whether it’s being used adequately or are there other changes necessary,” Conyers told Fox News Radio.
Sen. Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said the Libby decision “was clearly an effort to protect the White House. … There isn’t any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent.”
