[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT PARDON LIBBY

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, yesterday a jury here in Washington 
convicted Scooter Libby, the Vice President's former chief of staff, of 
obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the FBI and perjury. 
Libby's attorneys say they will appeal. Meanwhile, the White House 
remains silent about whether or not the President will pardon Mr. 
Libby.
  From the very beginning, this case has been about more than just 
Libby's attempts to lie to a Federal prosecutor. As egregious as that 
is, and Mr. Libby should be punished for it, perhaps even worse are the 
revelations that came out during this trial of how the Bush 
administration operated when it came to issues of national security.
  Testimony from Libby's trial shows the great lengths the Bush 
administration was willing to go to silence opponents of the war. In 
the case of Valerie Plame, the administration was more than willing to 
out an intelligence operative. It did not matter that they may have 
been jeopardizing her life or the lives of other intelligence agents 
that she may have been working with. All the administration cared about 
was silencing a critic of the war.
  President Bush should realize how serious this case is and should 
state for the record today that he will not pardon Mr. Libby.

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