Trump pardons Cheney aide Scooter Libby for perjury

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump pardoned I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby for lying to investigators probing the leak of a CIA officer identity, offering official forgiveness to a conservative figure whom supporters have argued was unfairly swept up in a politically charged special counsel’s investigation.
“I don’t know Mr. Libby,” Trump said in a statement, “but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.”
Libby, who was an aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney, was the “victim of a special counsel run amok,” White House aide Kellyanne Conway told, echoing a portrayal that Trump has applied to himself in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Some Democrats said the pardon was a signal to people entangled in Mueller’s probe to protect the president. “This is the President’s way of sending a message to those implicated in the Russia investigation: You have my back and I’ll have yours,” Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said. Libby was convicted of four felonies in 2007 for perjury in testimony to a federal grand jury, lying to FBI investigators and obstruction of justice. Trump’s pardon could help him re-emerge in conservative politics.
Libby is the third person Trump has pardoned since taking office. He drew cheers in some conservative circles and condemnation from Democrats when he pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.