Snow: Libby pardon talk all just 'interesting speculation'
 White House spokesman Tony Snow told the press on Tuesday afternoon that, as far as he knew, there hadn't been any discussions among Bush administration officials about granting former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a pardon.
Libby was convicted on four out of five charges, including perjury and obstruction of justice, in the federal court proceedings that resulted from the investigation of the "outing" of a former CIA operative.
At today's White House briefing, Snow was asked by a reporter, "Have there been any discussions either with the president or among staff members about a pardon for Scooter Libby?"
"I'm not aware of any," Snow replied. "And let me just say that all of this conversation, speculation about a pardon I know makes for interesting speculation, but it's just that."
As RAW STORY reported yesterday, some Democrats are concerned that President Bush may pardon Libby, who served as Cheney's Chief of Staff and Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs.
Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) issued a statement which said that "President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."
Meanwhile, at MSNBC, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate, opined that pardoning Libby could be seen as a "good way to shut him up." He added that it would be unfortunate should Bush attempt to "short circuit" any further investigation by issuing a pardon.
Later, on CNN, Dean explained to CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer why Bush may be tempted to pardon the former White House aide: "The problem is that Scooter Libby now has a ... a great incentive to tell what else was going on in the vice president's office... The best way that the president has to shut Scooter Libby up before sentencing is to pardon him."
At Wednesday's press briefing, Snow reiterated that the White House would still not offer further comments on the matter because of "ongoing" legal proceedings.
"Right now Scooter Libby and his attorneys have made it clear that they're going to try to get a retrial," Snow said. "If they don't get that, they're going to get an appeal. And we really haven't been commenting on any aspect of it. As we pointed out before, there is a process, you know, and it's available to anybody who's been convicted in the United States."
Snow objected when a journalist referred to Bush as "stingy" in the issuing of pardons when compared to other recent presidents and suggested a better characterization of Bush.
"I think I would use the term 'careful' because a pardon is not a goody," Snow said. "And I think it's important. So I would hesitate to use a term like 'stingy.'"
Snow added, "But I think it's something that's taken very carefully. You've got... the general process is, an application will go to the Pardon Attorney that could be forwarded to the Department of Justice, which, in turn, would make a recommendation on to the White House. These are not things that are treated lightly."
The reporter reiterated with Snow, "But wouldn't you say -- both as governor and as president, what do you think it tells us about the president's approach to the concept of pardons that he's given relatively fewer than other presidents--"
"I think it means that he takes the process very seriously and he wants to make sure that in his judgment, anybody who receives one, that it's warranted," Snow responded. "But again, I would caution against any speculation in this case."
Allowed another follow-up, the same correspondent asked Snow, "I want to know, after the verdict yesterday, because the Vice President's top aide has been convicted of perjury, I think it's a natural question... Does the president feel that any statement, further explanation, discussion with the American people is necessary at this point, outside of the legal proceedings?"
Snow said that the Administration was "very wary of saying anything that may prejudice" the former White House aide's legal rights.
"At this point we are -- our view is that you have an ongoing legal proceeding, and we're very wary of saying anything that may prejudice the rights of Scooter Libby as he proceeds to seek a retrial or an appeal," Snow said.
Pressed further, Snow pushed back by suggesting that the case only involves "Scooter Libby and his recollections" and that it was unfair to lump everything into a "great big wheelbarrow."
"Well, I mean, again, what you're asking -- if you want to try to identify issues -- I think there has been an attempt to try to use this a great big wheelbarrow in which to dump a whole series of unrelated issues and say, 'Aha!'" Snow said. "And it's -- you know, it is what it is. It's a case involving Scooter Libby and his recollections, and we're just not going to comment further on it."
"It doesn't provide any greater insight into the way the administration was addressing critics?" Snow was asked, referring to the revelations in the trial that Cheney and other Bush officials worked hard in the spring of 2003 to counter criticism by former Ambassador Joe Wilson as published in the New York Times regarding the use of "false intelligence" to prompt the war in Iraq. Officials had told a number of journalists -- off-the-record -- that Wilson's wife at the CIA was the one who sent him on a "boondoggle" trip to Niger, and not the Vice President's office.
Snow suggested, "If you want insight into the way the administration addresses trouble, I would have you take a look at what's happened with Walter Reed in the last two weeks."
Later, Snow said he had no knowledge of "confidential conversations" that Bush and Cheney may have had regarding Libby: "The vice president and the president have confidential conversations. They don't share them with us. Did it come up? I don't know, I can guess. It's a pretty hot topic today. But not having absolute confirmation, I'm just not going to tell you yes or no. But furthermore, they don't share their conversations with us, so I cannot tell you what they talk about. They don't pass it on to us. It's one of the reasons why I think there is so much trust and also closeness between the two."
Snow also objected to the "cloud over the White House line" that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald had used in his closing arguments during the Libby trial, "...see, the use of terms like 'cloud,' because this has come up before, what does that mean? You know, there's an attempt to impugn ability or -- this is a White House that takes very seriously its obligations to the American people, and you've got a president who has made it clear after the elections that he is going to be aggressive and he is going to be bold in dealing with the problems that the American people face."
In the following exchange, at the end of Wednesday's briefing, a reporter asked Snow if the White House would be issuing a correction to the "public denial" made by his predecessor -- former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer -- that Libby, and White House adviser Karl Rove had no involvement in the leak.
Snow refused to address the question, since it pre-dated his employment with the Administration. Snow previously worked as a correspondent for Fox News Channel and as an op-ed columnist.
#
Q Tony, a question not about the legal process but about a [previous White House statement. In 2003 this White House made it very clear that neither Scooter Libby nor Karl Rove was involved in the leak.
MR. SNOW: Right.
Q Does that public denial need to be corrected --
MR. SNOW: Again, you're asking me of things that pre-date me, and I'm not going to try to get into parsing it.
Q Well, in that respect, though, then why did the president change the grounds of dismissal from anyone involved to anyone convicted? And would it be accurate to say --
MR. SNOW: I'm not sure that there has been a change, Paula. I just --
Q There's a big difference between anyone involved and anyone convicted, isn't there? I mean, you can act unethically but not be proven to have acted --
MR. SNOW: Well, again, you've bundled a whole lot of things, a lot of presumptions, into a question, and I'm not sure I accept any of them.
Q Well, what is the policy? Is it anyone involved or anyone convicted?
MR. SNOW: You know, I'm going to let the President's word stand.
Thank you.
Q (Off mike.)
MR. SNOW: I don't think so. The words have been pretty consistent.
#
FULL TRANSCRIPT CAN BE READ AT FNSG
|
