Keith Ellison: “Yesterday a jury here in Washington convicted Scooter Libby, the Vice President's former chief of staff, of obstruction…”

“Yesterday a jury here in Washington convicted Scooter Libby, the Vice President's former chief of staff, of obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the FBI and perjury. Libby's attorneys say they will appeal. Meanwhile, the White House remains silent about whether or not the President will pardon Mr. Libby. From the very beginning, this case has been about more than just Libby's attempts to lie to a Federal prosecutor. As egregious as that is, and Mr. Libby should be punished for it, perhaps even worse are the revelations that came out during this trial of how the Bush administration operated when it came to issues of national security. Testimony from Libby's trial shows the great lengths the Bush administration was willing to go to silence opponents of the war. In the case of Valerie Plame, the administration was more than willing to out an intelligence operative. It did not matter that they may have been jeopardizing her life or the lives of other intelligence agents that she may have been working with. All the administration cared about was silencing a critic of the war. President Bush should realize how serious this case is and should state for the record today that he will not pardon Mr. Libby.”