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Title: White House: "Equal Justice?"
Source:
TPM Muckraker.com
URL Source: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003607.php#more
Published: Jul 5, 2007
Author: Paul Kiel
Post Date: 2007-07-05 16:17:49 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 67
Comments: 3
White House: "Equal Justice?" By Paul Kiel - July 5, 2007, 2:27 PM Sometimes it's just too easy. From this afternoon's White House press briefing: MR. STANZEL: Well, I guess I don't know what you mean by "equal justice under the law." But this is a unique case, there's no doubt about that. And we have said that there are a lot of people on all sides of this issue who've made good points. The President took a very measured approach to it. He believed that the jury verdict should be respected and -- but he did feel that the sentence was excessive, in terms of jail time. But this is a unique case, and there's no doubt about that. More below.... From the briefing: Q Even one day would have been considered excessive? MR. STANZEL: The President commuted the entire sentence. Q So a single day in jail for lying and obstructing justice, in a federal case, is excessive? MR. STANZEL: The President believed that 30 months, the sentence that was given -- one day wasn't given, 30 months was. Q Right, but it's not the 30 months that he thought was excessive, it was the entire sentence. MR. STANZEL: It was the -- Q -- any time in jail. MR. STANZEL: He commuted the 30-month sentence. So what the President believed was 30 months was excessive, and he respected the jury verdict, and the jury verdict also put in place -- found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice, which are serious charges, and those are addressed by the $250,000 fine and the probation and the felony charge. Q Can you tell us if reducing the sentence was even considered? MR. STANZEL: I'm not going to even speculate about internal deliberations. So the President made very clear his views in the two-page statement and in his comments the next day.Q Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?
Q Scott, why, if the President thought the sentence was excessive, why didn't he simply reduce it? Why do away with the entire sentence? MR. STANZEL: Well, I think the President thought that the penalty -- the fine, the probation, the felony charge -- were all very significant penalties. And so that's why -- I'm not going to get into a gaming out of whether zero to 30 and somewhere in there was -- is the right place, but the President thought that the fine was excessive -- or the jail time was excessive, and that's why he commuted the sentence.
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#1. To: aristeides (#0)
How soon will Scooter get his $250K back? (not that we'll ever know)
Speaking of that $250K, I just saw on CNN that the cashier's check Libby submitted was made out on Monday. Since banks here in D.C. -- still more cashier's checks departments -- aren't open after 5 P.M., it would appear he put things in motion to pay the fine before the White House announced the commutation at 6 P.M. I wonder if that means the White House was in touch with him earlier in the day.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Good catch and no doubt. More secret messaging I guess.
Ron Paul for President
Ron Paul for President
#2. To: robin (#1)
#3. To: aristeides (#2)
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