The American Spectator

Streetcar Line

The Pardon of Scooter Libby

By Quin Hillyer on 6.28.07 @ 12:09AM

How the President Should Play It

Proclamation of the President of the United States

Pursuant to my authority under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, I hereby bestow a full and irrevocable pardon upon I. Lewis Libby, Jr., for any and all charges, current or future, related to the matter of the investigation into the release of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, including all charges of perjury and/or obstruction of justice concerning the same. I do so because, notwithstanding a jury finding to the contrary, I fully believe that Mr. Libby is not guilty of the charges leveled against him.* I further believe that Mr. Libby's predicament is entirely the result of a political dispute emanating from his service to the nation under my direction, and that the proper focus of contention should be my conduct, not his own. I cannot in good conscience allow a man to serve a prison sentence for a crime I do not believe he committed, for duties undertaken at my behest.

To this pardon, I affix my official signature under the Seal of the United States.

George W. Bush
President of The United States of America

*An explanation of this conclusion will be released by my press office.

Explanation of the President's Belief in the Innocence of I. Lewis Libby *
* Not a part of the official pardon statement, but an explanation thereof for distribution to the American public via the working media.

I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, believe that I. Lewis Libby is not guilty of perjury or of obstruction of justice. In saying this, I do not say that the jury necessarily erred on the basis of the evidence presented to it, nor do I say that the judge necessarily made (or did not make) a mistaken ruling on the law. But I do believe, regardless of the legal admissibility of evidence the defense was not allowed to present to the jury, that had the disallowed evidence been presented at trial alongside all the other evidence that was admitted, a fair-minded jury would certainly have concluded, as I do, that Mr. Libby is not guilty.

I do not believe that Mr. Libby intentionally lied to, or otherwise obstructed, a grand jury or any federal agents.

I believe that the case against Mr. Libby revolves entirely around an instance of instances of honestly mistaken recollection -- and that such mistaken recollection may or may not be that of Mr. Libby. I think it is unknowable whose recollection or recollections were mistaken. I further believe that Mr. Libby had absolutely no motive to lie to or otherwise obstruct the investigation at issue -- and that said lack of motive further bolsters my conclusion that Mr. Libby did not lie or obstruct said investigation.

It is evident that the original jury convictions of Mr. Libby, which (absent my pardon of Mr. Libby) might or might not be overturned on appeal, all relied in whole or in overwhelming part on the difference in recollections between Mr. Libby and the estimable Mr. Tim Russert. Every one of them. With that in mind, there are only two relevant questions. First, whose recollection is correct? Second, if and only if Mr. Libby's recollection is incorrect, was that mis-recollection intentional?

I believe the answer to the first question is unknowable. I believe the answer to the second question is "no."

As for my first belief, about the unknowability about whose recollection is correct, I believe that evidence withheld from the jury would convincingly bolster the defense's contention that Mr. Russert's memory is utterly unreliable -- unintentionally unreliable, certainly, but unreliable nonetheless. The defense already introduced evidence that showed several instances of crucial memory lapses by Mr. Russert. It was denied permission to introduce other compelling evidence to the same effect. The defense also made a compelling case that Mr. Libby's memory is unreliable -- unintentionally unreliable, but unreliable nonetheless. Within the executive branch, I personally know a number of honest people who will testify that Mr. Libby's memory, when not referring to detailed notes, is reliable only to the extent of the "big picture," not as to details.

With regard to both the memory of Mr. Libby and that of Mr. Russert, the defense was further prohibited from introducing evidence about the reliability of memory in general. I believe that all of this testimony, and that described in the previous paragraph, would have convinced any fair-minded jury that the facts are sufficiently in dispute for there to be too much doubt for any conviction on the merits. I further believe that the entirety of the evidence, both allowed and disallowed, would convince any fair-minded jury that ANY mis-recollections were quite likely unintentional.

This is crucial. For the record, I note two items. First, I note the FBI report of its original interview with Mr. Russert. To quote from that report, Mr. Russert told the FBI that "he could not completely rule out the possibility that he had such an exchange [as described by Mr. Libby]…. Russert acknowledged that he speaks to many people on a daily basis and it is difficult to reconstruct some specific conversations, particularly ones which occurred several months ago."

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Constitution, Law