Former Vice President Dick Cheney called President Donald Trump to thank him for pardoning his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Breitbart News that Cheney phoned the president after the announcement was made.
Before former President George W. Bush left office, he declined to pardon Libby, despite commuting his prison sentence. Cheney was angered by Bush’s decision, telling the president that he had left a soldier on the battlefield in the wake of the partisan investigation of the leak of CIA operative Valarie Plame’s name publicly to the media.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admitted that he was the source of the leak, but only Scooter Libby was found guilty of lying to the FBI and obstructing justice.
Trump said that although he did not know Libby personally, he had always heard the former Cheney aid was “treated unfairly.”
“Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life,” he said.
Cheney issued a statement to reporters after Trump announced the pardon: “Scooter Libby is one of the most capable, principled, and honorable men I have ever known. He is innocent, and he and his family have suffered for years because of his wrongful conviction. I am grateful today that President Trump righted this wrong by issuing a full pardon to Scooter, and I am thrilled for Scooter and his family.”
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