Cheney stands by efforts to secure pardon for LibbyPosted: 09:59 AM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
(CNN) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney is standing by his efforts in the final days of the Bush administration to secure a presidential pardon for I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, calling his former chief of staff an "honorable man and a faithful public servant."
"Scooter Libby is an innocent man who was the victim of a severe miscarriage of justice," the former vice president said in a statement. "He was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Rich Armitage, leaked the name and hid that fact from most of his colleagues, including the President."
"Mr. Libby is an honorable man and a faithful public servant who served the President, the Vice President and the nation with distinction for many years," Cheney also said. "He deserved a presidential pardon."
The statement comes as Time magazine reported Friday the extent to which Cheney unsuccessfully pressed former President Bush to grant Libby a pardon.
According to the magazine, securing the pardon had "had become something of a crusade for Cheney, who seemed prepared to push his nine-year-old relationship with Bush to the breaking point — and perhaps past it."
Libby was convicted of obstructing a federal investigation into the revelation that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA agent. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. Bush commuted the sentence, which he called "excessive," but refused to issue a full pardon.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
