Quote:
WASHINGTON — A House Judiciary Committee hearing into the decision to commute the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will also take a look at other presidential pardons, the chairman of the committee said Thursday.
"Yes, we’re going to review all of them, including Clinton’s, Bush one, Bush two, we’ll go back as far as they want," Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said in an exclusive interview with FOX News Radio. Conyers added that the Nixon pardon would also be covered in the review.
Conyers said he doesn't think President Bush acted outside his constitutional authority in commuting Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence, but he questions the use of that authority. The power to pardon is written into the Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. It states: "He (the president) shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."
Ranking Committee Republican Lamar Smith of Texas told FOX News Radio that he was surprised to hear Conyers' plan for the hearing now scheduled for Wednesday.
"I really on the whole think the Judiciary Committee has a lot better things to do than to spend time investigating what is a constitutional prerogative of any president, Republican or Democrat," Smith said.
Democrats have been lashing out at Bush for commuting the prison sentence for the former vice presidential chief of staff, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case of the leak of a CIA employee's name. No one in the Bush administration has been convicted of illegally releasing former CIA staffer Valerie Plame's name.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a 2008 presidential candidate, said the Libby commutation "was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."
On Thursday, the White House scoffed at Clinton's comments, saying no one batted an eye when, on the last day of his presidency, former President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich. Ironically, Libby had been Rich's attorney.
"It seems to me that the hypocrisy demonstrated by Democratic leaders on this issue is rather startling. When you think about the previous administration and the 11th hour fire sale pardons, and issues that were provided commutations on the last day in the numbers of the hundreds, in the final time between the post-election period, it's really startling that they have the gall to criticize" Bush's decision, said White House deputy spokesman Scott Stanzel.
"I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it," Snow said. As for Conyers' decision to hold a hearing, Snow said he hoped Clinton's pardons would come up too. "Well, fine, knock himself out. ... And while he's at it, why doesn't he look at January 20th, 2001?"
"Yes, we’re going to review all of them, including Clinton’s, Bush one, Bush two, we’ll go back as far as they want," Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said in an exclusive interview with FOX News Radio. Conyers added that the Nixon pardon would also be covered in the review.
Conyers said he doesn't think President Bush acted outside his constitutional authority in commuting Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence, but he questions the use of that authority. The power to pardon is written into the Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. It states: "He (the president) shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."
Ranking Committee Republican Lamar Smith of Texas told FOX News Radio that he was surprised to hear Conyers' plan for the hearing now scheduled for Wednesday.
"I really on the whole think the Judiciary Committee has a lot better things to do than to spend time investigating what is a constitutional prerogative of any president, Republican or Democrat," Smith said.
Democrats have been lashing out at Bush for commuting the prison sentence for the former vice presidential chief of staff, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case of the leak of a CIA employee's name. No one in the Bush administration has been convicted of illegally releasing former CIA staffer Valerie Plame's name.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a 2008 presidential candidate, said the Libby commutation "was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."
On Thursday, the White House scoffed at Clinton's comments, saying no one batted an eye when, on the last day of his presidency, former President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich. Ironically, Libby had been Rich's attorney.
"It seems to me that the hypocrisy demonstrated by Democratic leaders on this issue is rather startling. When you think about the previous administration and the 11th hour fire sale pardons, and issues that were provided commutations on the last day in the numbers of the hundreds, in the final time between the post-election period, it's really startling that they have the gall to criticize" Bush's decision, said White House deputy spokesman Scott Stanzel.
"I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it," Snow said. As for Conyers' decision to hold a hearing, Snow said he hoped Clinton's pardons would come up too. "Well, fine, knock himself out. ... And while he's at it, why doesn't he look at January 20th, 2001?"
Yawn. Anyone surprised by this?
