Chancellor Sean O’Keefe released a statement Wednesday supporting President Bush’s move to commute former Vice President Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 2 1/2-year prison sentence.
“I am very pleased and grateful that the President has commuted Libby’s sentence,” O’Keefe said. “The consequences of his conviction are very serious without prison time. I think the President acted with compassion and in recognition of his many years of faithful, diligent public service.”
O’Keefe’s statement comes about a month after he sent a letter May 1 to U.S. Judge Reggie Walton in defense of LIbby.
“[Judge Walton], I earnestly submit to you that Scooter Libby is a very different man than the sketch that has been presented in the public accounts of the recent legal proceedings,” O’Keefe said in the letter.
O’Keefe met Libby in the late 1980s when O’Keefe served in the Department of Defense.
Libby was convicted in March of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators. The crimes originated from an investigation regarding the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003. Libby’s 30-month prison sentence was commuted, but he was still required to pay a $250,000 fine.
—Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]