Via CNN: ‘Scooter’ Libby guilty on four of five counts:
Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby has been found guilty on four of five counts in his perjury and obstruction of justice trial.Libby, 56, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making a false statement and two counts of perjury.
Jurors cleared him of a second count of making a false statement.
[...]
Libby was not accused of exposing Plame.
Wow: possibly most of the rest of his life in prison and a substantial economic penalty, and ultimately for what? Was he trying to protect the Veep? Did he think he was protecting himself from something worse? And given that it is, to this day, unclear as to whether any laws were broken regarding Plame’s status, the whole thing seems like a waste on numerous levels.
The BBC version of the story is here.
James Joyner, who observed part of the trial, has some initial comments.
Update: In the ABC News (the Australian ABC, that is) version of the story, Fitzegerald is quoted as follows:
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald says the CIA leak investigation was now inactive.“I do not expect to file any additional charges,” he said.
“We’re all going back to our day jobs.”
This underscores my whole “waste” statement. If there is nothing further here, one wonders what the ultimate point was. If Libby had just told the truth (which he should have done) then it would appear that there was literally nothing here.
Now yes, there was plenty of politicking going on, but that should hardly be a shock.
tag: Scooter Libby Plame
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March 6th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Scooter Libby Found Guilty on 4 of 5 Counts
Scooter Libby has been found guilty, report AP’s Michael Sniffen and Matt Apuzzo.
Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of…
March 6th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
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March 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Most of the rest of his life in prison? What universe are you living in? Even setting aside the issue of the pardon that will come after the 08 elections (while the case is still being appealed), there is the rather obvious fact that his sentence would probably be in the range of a year or so. When was the last time you ever heard of someone like Libby getting the max?
And why do you consider it a waste of time to prosecute someone for lying to a federal investigation? Do you have some interest in protecting those who thwart such investigations? By what moral or legal calculation does the question of whether the underlying charge is prosecutable or not, impact on the obligation of someone to tell the truth to the investigation, or to a grand jury?
March 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
The word “possibly” is rather key in the sentence in question.
I do recognize that he is unlikely to receive the max sentence, and I also recognize that the situation is far from finished.
Also, one has to understand that I said that the whole thing was a waste on a number of levels, such as why would the guy lie in the first place? As well as at the end of the day, was this worth the expense to catch him in those lies? I really find both to be legit questions.
It is unclear to me at this stage of the game what anyone really gained here. I will not dispute that the man ought to have simply been honest, and I am not especially sympathetic–I think you are reading quite a bit into what I wrote.
In core practical terms Libby’s actions did not really protect the administration (assuming that that was his goal) and the conviction really hasn’t told us anything of special use about the administration. As such, it was a waste (as far as I am concerned) on a lot of levels.
I simply have no emotion invested in this. I don’t feel any sense of triumph because an administration official was convicted, or am I am outraged that the conviction was handed down.
And I still find it remarkable that at the end of the day that the legal status of Plame remains unclear as is the degree to which anyone did anything illegal in discussing her in the first place.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Further, if you look at the paragraph in question, wherein I note the issue of waste, I wasn’t focusing on the prosecution, but on Libby’s own actions.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Berger did worse, & got a VIP seat at some strip club. Plus free drinks. At least when Bush pardons Scooter, Scooter won’t transfer any billions into Bush’s swiss bank account as a small token of his esteem.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:09 am
The whole affair does seem stupid at many levels, but to a large degree, I blame the Bush administration. If there really was no crime, as most Republicans are claiming, then why didn’t Bush come clean from the very beginning, as soon as the source of Plame’s status became an issue.
Why these strange attempts at pretending it was all a big mystery to him also? Does anyone really believe that Bush could not have gotten to the bottom of it if he really had wanted to?
March 7th, 2007 at 11:00 am
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