'Comfort' at White House that decision won't hurt Bush politically
Raw Story
President George W. Bush did not consult with the Justice Department or special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald before commuting the sentence of former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, according to Tuesday's Washington Post.He also rebuffed anyone appealing from Libby -- limiting discussion "to a few close aides."
"For the first time in his presidency, Bush made a decision to commute a sentence without going through a process of running requests through lawyers at the Justice Department," the Post alleged. "He also did not ask the chief prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, for his input, as routinely happens in cases routed through the Justice Department's pardon attorney."
Bush, however, said in his statement that he'd carefully weighed the arguments for and against a pardon -- apparently without actually getting information from the prosecutor about the case.
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