Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Scooter Libby Pardoned By Trump For Bush-Era Crimes

President Trump has pardoned former George W. Bush administration official Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was convicted of lying in an investigation of the unmasking of a CIA agent, a source said on Friday, in a step that would underscore Trump’s willingness to grant pardons in high-profile cases.

Conservatives have been pushing for a pardon for Libby, who is Jewish, for years after former Vice President Dick Cheney was unable to persuade Bush to do it late in his presidency. Bush did, however, commute Libby’s 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

Libby, a top aide to Cheney during the run-up and early years of the Iraq war, was found guilty in 2007 of lying and obstructing an investigation into who blew the cover of a CIA officer, Valerie Plame, whose husband, former diplomat Joe Wilson, had criticized the Iraq war.

Libby could not immediately be reached for comment.

If Libby is pardoned, it would be the second high-profile pardon of Trump’s tenure. Last year, he pardoned Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who had campaigned for Trump, less than a month after he was convicted of criminal contempt in a case involving racial profiling.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.