Bush Won't Say No to Libby Pardon

Bush acknowledges White House role in Plame leak

(NEWSER) - The federal judge who sentenced Scooter Libby to 30 months in prison expressed his frustration with President Bush's commutation order yesterday, pointing out that the administration had championed the sentencing guidelines he followed. Reggie Walton, a Bush appointee with a lock-'em-up reputation, vented in a footnote to an order that Libby to serve supervised release, the LA Times reports. More»

Slate's political wiz doesn't see Libby landing behind bars

(NEWSER) - President Bush will step in and save Scooter Libby for two reasons, argues Slate's John Dickerson. First, to repay Dick Cheney for not throwing Karl Rove under the bus. And second, pardoning Libby could help Bush regain Republican support by appeasing conservatives who opposed the CIA leak investigation from the get-go and are riled up by immigration reform. More»

President 'wanted to show who was in charge,' he writes in 'Decision Points'

(NEWSER) - George Bush seriously considered ditching Dick Cheney for the 2004 election, he writes in his memoir, Decision Points. Cheney offered to step aside and Bush—seeking "to demonstrate I was in charge"—explored the possibility of replacing him with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist before deciding to ask Cheney to stay, he writes in a copy of the memoir obtained by the New York Times . More»

VP comes up blank on specifics in newly released interview

(NEWSER) - After years of effort by the Bush and Obama administrations to keep documents related to the CIA leak case secret, redacted portions of the special prosecutor’s 2004 interview with Dick Cheney released today show plenty of nothing. The then-VP apparently suffered acute memory loss: Cheney told Patrick Fitzgerald he couldn't recall when he learned Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, or telling chief of staff Scooter Libby about it, or telling Libby to leak the info to reporters. More»

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney has decided the "statute of limitations" has expired on some secrets from the Bush era, associates tell the Washington Post. Discussing his memoir-in-progress, the former vice president has made it plain that he felt President Bush was getting soft in his second term, and moved away from Cheney on national security issues purely to pander to public opinion, sources say. More»