Judge Won't Delay Libby's Imprisonment

Former White House aide, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, left, follows his attorney, William Jeffress, Jr., right, upon their arrival at federal court in Washington, Thursday, June 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP)

WASHINGTON -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby began making prison arrangements Thursday after a federal judge refused to delay the former White House aide's 2 1/2-year sentence in the CIA leak case.

Despite the promise of an emergency appeal, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney met with probation officials to arrange for his surrender sometime in the next few weeks.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton was never persuaded that Libby deserved to have his sentence delayed. The judge cited the "overwhelming" evidence that Libby lied to investigators and obstructed Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the 2003 leak of a CIA operative's identity.

"Unless the Court of Appeals overturns my ruling, he will have to report," Walton said as Libby sat stoically and his wife wiped tears from her eyes.

Libby, the highest-ranking White House official to be sent to prison since the Iran-Contra affair, will soon receive a federal inmate number and a notice from the Bureau of Prisons telling him where and when to show up.

Walton's ruling is more than just a legal setback for Libby. It also means more questions for President Bush about whether he will pardon the former aide. Libby's allies have called for a pardon, saying the loyal Republican was the casualty of a political investigation. A delay in the sentence would have meant more time for Bush to consider the request.

"Scooter Libby still has the right to appeal, and therefore the president will continue not to intervene in the judicial process," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Thursday. "The president feels terribly for Scooter, his wife and their young children, and all that they're going through."

Libby thanked federal marshals but did not take questions from reporters as he left the courthouse with his wife and lawyers. Fitzgerald also left without commenting.

The monthlong trial offered a rare glimpse into the White House in the early days of the Iraq war, when the Bush administration was on the defensive after invading U.S. forces failed to turn up any weapons of mass destruction, the ostensible reason Bush and Cheney touted for the invasion.

Trial testimony showed Cheney was eager to beat back criticism of prewar intelligence, which said Iraq had such weapons and was seeking more of them. One of the most outspoken critics of that intelligence in mid-2003 was former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Amid a flurry of news coverage of that criticism, Bush administration officials leaked to reporters that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked as an undercover analyst for CIA. That disclosure in a syndicated newspaper column touched off a leak investigation that brought senior White House officials, including Bush and Cheney, in for questioning.

Libby was convicted of lying about how he learned Plame's identity and whom he told. His lawyers argued Thursday that he had a good chance of persuading an appeals court that, when senior Justice Department officials recused themselves from the leak investigation, they gave Fitzgerald unconstitutional and unchecked authority.