Did Bush commute Libby's sentence to give Scooter 5th Amendment rights?

Question

In light of future prosecution cases against the White House?

Was the President trying to keep his bird from singing?

Remember Libby's wife's "We're gonna F--- 'em" comment at the verdict reading?

Is the commutation meant to keep him quiet?

Answer 1

I don't quite understand. Constitutional rights are not "granted" by one individual to another. Libby always had 5th Amendment rights and always will have, GWB notwithstanding.

You may need to think this one through a bit more.

Answer 2

Bush seems to have commuted Libby's sentence mainly just to keep libby out of jail.
I say this for a couple reasons:
1) Because the sentence was commuted, means Libby was fully convicted and this will remain on his record. There is no benefit for Libby besides skipping his jail time. I dont beleive Libby set foot in jail under his sentence (once bail was posted he did not return) and campaigned to have his sentence delayed. As if he were stalling for time for the commuting to occur.
2) Seeing as 5th ammendment rights are guaranteed to everybody, Bush couldn't really "give" it back to him.
A) Perhaps Libby did indeed have something critically damaging to tell about Bush or some such, and they wanted to Libby to keep quiet.
In conclusion, I think it was just a sweetheart deal for Bush's assistant. Libby may only been used in this whole disclosure incident as a scapegoat, to keep the regime afloat. so to keep the illusion strong, they convict Libby but soften his landing by seeing he doesn't spend a day in jail.

Since we're already here talking about Libby, he wrote a book called "The Apprentice" with some of the following highlights
--a scene of incest between two uncles and their niece;
--a hunter asking his companions if they should **** a freshly killed deer while it's still warm
--the description of a prepubescent girl's painted "mound" and pleasing lack of vaginal odor;
--a story about a girl who's kept in a cage and raped by a bear to train her to become a prostitute

I dont even know what to say about his book, but the nerve.com article I sited has excerpts from his book.

Answer 3

Absolutely to keep him quiet, though Libby already had 5th Amendment rights. Could this be any more transparent? Forget Valerie Plame, she's just a side note to the real issues. The yellow cake uranium story in its entirety is much more dangerous for them than outing a CIA agent. I do remember Libby's wife saying that, and I had no doubt she meant it. Apparently the White House believes her too.

Answer 4

Uh, no. Bush commuted Libby's sentence because he was found guilty of obstruction of justice in a case where there was no crime committed. Get it? No crime. None. Federal investigators informed the prosecution that the administration played no part in Valerie "I am too a spy!" Plame's outting. 2 years in prison seems a little harsh when there's been no crime, don't you think?

So what crime are you suggesting the president is guilty of? Personally, I can't think of one. But I'm sure you can make something up. Hey! How about you go with the old 9/11 conspiracy!

Answer 5

To suggest that there are actually going to be future prosecutions against the White House are laughable, even the Democrats know that there aren't going to be any (simply because there are no crimes to prosecute). Don't confuse political posturing with facts.

Personally, I think that the President didn't have the backbone to pardon Libby, but did the commute thing as a compromise. The $250,000 fine and 2 year probation are still no light thing, they still acknowledge that he was found guilty. So he's attempted to appease the political Right without offending the Middle (let's face it, he could never please the Left).

Answer 6

He didn't give Libby 5th Amendment rights.

But by leaving the supervised release portion of the sentence, he did arguably preserve Libby's 5th Amendment rights with respect to that crime, since Libby would still be subject to later punishment for violating the terms of the supervised release.

Then again, for any other crimes besides that one, Libby could still have invoked 5th Amendment protections regardless of whether he was pardoned or not. And he can still be granted transactional or use immunity to get around any 5th Amendment self-incrimination issues.

So, nothing has really changed, except Libby doesn't go to jail.

Answer 7

The tea leaves can be hard to read. I think a more important question is why Libby was prosecuted to begin with. It makes me chuckle to see so many "outraged" reporters indignantly tell us about bad boy Scooter when they know that in Washington DC, leaking, whispering, and inside info are the rule of the day.

If Scooter would have had to go to the big house for even one day, we would have had to execute Rahm Emanuel, Paul Begala, and the James Carville gang just to keep things even.

Anyone ever heard of politics 101?

Answer 8

Of course Bush commuted Libby's sentence to keep him quiet.. can't wait for the day.. waaaaay in the future, when Libby will get sick of keeping Bush's secrets and writes a tell all book. Too bad it will be too late then.

Answer 9

I think so - to keep him quiet. If Bush had pardoned him, or if Libby had gone to jail, he would have been singing like a bird about the inner-workings of this corrupt administration. A pardon or time served would have negated his 5th Amendment rights.

Answer 10

Basically you got it right. Everyone knows that Cheney and possilbly Bush were so upset by exposure of their lies regarding weapons of mass destruction that they outed Valerie Plame as revenge.
Scooter Libby was Cheney's right hand boy. He did as he was told. Even Bush listens to Cheney. Does anyone really think Libby acted on his own?
If left to fester in prison for 30 months at his age, there is a strong likelihood he would have made a deal with prosecutors to free him in exchange for testimony against Cheney and Bush.

Answer 11

No, he gave a commutation to a true corrupt individual. Libby could have exercised his Fifth Amendment rights anytime anybody questioned him. I do believe the chimp wanted to keep his bird from "singing". That's what was the key strategy for the chimp here.