Lewis "Scooter" Libby, U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, leaves his trial on perjury
charges 22 January 2007 at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District
Courthouse in Washington, DC..(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of
staff of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to 30 months in jail on
Tuesday for lying and obstructing investigators in the CIA leak case.
"People who occupy these types of positions, where
they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special
obligation to not do anything that might create a problem," said U.S. District
Judge Reggie B. Walton.
Libby was also fined 250,000 U.S. dollars and placed
on probation for two years following his release from prison.
His 30-month sentence was for the obstruction of
justice charge.
Libby also received shorter sentences on the other
counts, to run concurrently.
He was convicted on March 6 of four counts in a
five-count indictment alleging perjury, obstruction of justice and making false
statements to the FBI.
The charges arose from a federal probe into how the
identity of Valerie Plame, then a covert CIA agent, was given to reporters in
the summer of 2003.
Libby, 56, had served as Cheney's chief of staff and
national security adviser between 2001 and October 2005, when he resigned after
being indicted in the leak case.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Libby -- if
imprisoned -- must serve at least 80 percent of his sentence, or two years.
Neither Libby nor his attorneys spoke to reporters as
they rushed to their car and left the courthouse.
News reports said he will appeal the verdict.
Libby has maintained his innocence ever since he was
indicted and resigned in October 2005.
The case involves statements Libby made to the FBI
and a grand jury during their probe into how the covert identity of CIA
operative Plame was leaked.
Some in the United States believe the whole Bush
administrationwas behind the leak and the former chief of staff to Cheney was
just a "scapegoat."
Plame's name became public when Robert Novak named
her in his New York Times column on July 14, 2003.
Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, had
openly questioned the Bush administration's basis for invading Iraq, which
raised the question that if the White House deliberately leaked his wife's
identity to embarrass and discredit him.
Cheney has continued to express support and empathy
for his former chief of staff, and it is possible Libby could be granted a
presidential pardon before the end of Bush's term.
But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush
will not intervene in the case with a pardon at this point, when she spoke to
reporters traveling with the president to the Group of Eight leaders' summit in
Heiligendamm, Germany.
"The president has not intervened so far in this or
any other criminal matter and so he is going to decline to do so now as well."
She said, "The criminal justice system is still continuing."
BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Federal prosecutors are
urging that former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby serve up to
three years for lying about his conversations with reporters about CIA operative
Valerie Plame, but White House and State Department officials and military
commanders are supporting Libby plea to spare him from doing prison time.
Libby's lawyers said Thursday that for Libby to go to
prison would be unfair. Citing numerous letters from former colleagues and
friends, they said Libby deserved only probation. Full story
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Dick
Cheney was deeply involved in the leak of a former CIA agent's identity in the
summer of 2003, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Tuesday.
In his opening statement in the CIA leak trial,
Fitzgerald said Cheney told his chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in 2003
that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked for the CIA and Libby spread
that information to reporters. Full story
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