Prosecutor Seeks
Prison Term
For Ex-White House
Aide Libby
By AP from the Wall
Street Journal Online, May 26, 2007
WASHINGTON, May 25 -- Former
White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has shown no remorse for corrupting
the legal system and deserves to spend 2½ to three years in prison for
obstructing the CIA leak investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
said Friday.
Mr. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and an
assistant to President Bush, is the highest-ranking White House official
convicted since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.
In court documents, Mr. Fitzgerald
rejected criticism from Mr. Libby's supporters who said the leak investigation
had spun out of control. Mr. Fitzgerald denied the prosecution was
politically motivated and said Mr. Libby brought his fate upon himself.
"The judicial system has not corruptly mistreated Mr. Libby," Mr. Fitzgerald
wrote. "Mr. Libby has been found by a jury of his peers to have corrupted
the judicial system."
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who has a reputation for handing down
tough sentences, has broad discretion over Mr. Libby's fate. Judge Walton
faces two important questions: whether to send Mr. Libby to prison and, if
so, whether to delay the sentence until his appeals have run out.
Mr. Libby's lawyers have not filed their sentencing documents yet but are
expected to ask that he receive no jail time. They have said that if Judge
Walton orders prison time, they will ask that Mr. Libby be allowed to remain
free during appeals.
Mr. Libby was convicted in March of lying to investigators about what he told
reporters regarding CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose 2003 exposure touched off
the leak probe. Ms. Plame was identified in a newspaper column after her
husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the Bush
administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Mr. Libby "lied repeatedly and blatantly about matters at the heart of a
criminal investigation concerning the disclosure of a covert intelligence
officer's identity," Mr. Fitzgerald wrote. "He has shown no regret for his
actions, which significantly impeded the investigation."
No one was charged with the leak itself, including the initial source of the
disclosure, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Mr.
Fitzgerald was aware early on that Mr. Armitage was the original source of the
leak.
Mr. Libby's supporters have said that proves Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation ran
amok. Mr. Fitzgerald rejected that idea Friday. The Federal Bureau
of Investigation pressed on because it was important to know whether the leaks
were approved by others, Mr. Fitzgerald said, and Mr. Libby impeded that effort.
"Mr. Libby's prosecution was based not upon politics but upon his own conduct,"
Mr. Fitzgerald said.
Mr. Libby's supporters wrote letters to the court on his behalf, but Judge
Walton has not decided whether to release them. Eleven news organizations
filed documents Friday urging Judge Walton not to keep them secret because they
were filed in an attempt to influence Mr. Libby's sentence and should therefore
be part of the public record.
Mr. Fitzgerald referenced those letters Friday and, even without the direct
quotes, it's clear that some strongly criticized the investigation. Mr.
Libby's supporters, Mr. Fitzgerald said, have tried to "shift blame away from
Mr. Libby for his illegal conduct and onto those who investigated and prosecuted
Mr. Libby for unexplained "political" reasons."
Mr. Libby's lawyers have said he deserves to be pardoned, but the White House
has been guarded about the issue. Top Democrats have urged Mr. Bush not to
pardon him.
"Particularly in a case such as this, where Mr. Libby was a high-ranking
government official whose falsehoods were central to issues in a significant
criminal investigation, it is important that this court impose a sentence that
accurately reflects the value the judicial system places on truth-telling in
criminal investigations," Mr. Fitzgerald wrote in court documents.
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