paperwork for dozens more pardons and commutations of criminal offenders. donald trump earlier this month commuted the sentence of grandmother alice marie johnson who served 23 years for drug offenses. pres. obama had said no to her request for clemency. else johnson was the seventh pardon or commutation granted by donald trump including the posthumous pardon of the first black heavyweight champion, dennis desousa who pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and former bush administration official scooter libby convicted in the 2003 leak the reveal the identity of cia operative valerie plane. right around the time of the ellis johnson part the president made what he called an astonishing offer to protesting nfl players come up as long folks they consider victims of the, justice system and he will give them a chance. malcolm jenkins, and john bolton and benjamin watson responded to the offer in a new york times op-ed asking for a blanket pardon for drug offenders like
investigate the leaking of cia agent valerie plane in 2003? scooter libby was convicted in that case, not for leaking but for lying to investigators. trump recently pardon him, something george w. bush should have done long before leaving office. do you remember who decided to appoint special counsel in that case? then deputy attorney general jim comey. whom did call me choose a special counsel? his old chum, patrick fitzgeral fitzgerald. it s all so incestuous. now he is a partner at my old law firm and he s representing whom? jim comey and his dealings with special counsel, bob mueller. that brings us to today where many of the same figures who have been celebrated by media elites are back at work using their position and their pedigree, and an ongoing effort to purge the country of
let s listen to this. turn off the sound. watch his face. you are looking at a guy that around the seventh grade practiced sincerity. you re saying he s acting? i m saying he taught himself at an early age, a series of self-serving emotions. watch him for a couple hours with this stuff. he uses it over and over and over. this guy is almost a pathological liar. jon: is itself serving? yeah, i think so. newt has an interesting theory. i m going to leave that for others to decide acceptance or not. but i do think james comey, if you read the book and particularly the interview with george stephanopoulos, this is a sanctimonious individual. i dealt with him in the bush administration. let me give you two quick examples. in the book he talks about valerie plane and scooter libby.
descriptions of the president or discussing some of the more crazy things. i think his point is this is not normal. we are not in a normal period of our history. anyone who tries to normalize these allegations associated with the president is undermining american democracy. i think comey has a broader, more important point. if people think he s not the paragon of rectitude he portrayed himself to be, so be it. take the evidence he s putting on the public record and judge it for yourself. the other thing that s happening that s real, that s not words, that is not a book, joyce, is that donald trump in the midst of all of this issued his first major pardon for obstruction of justice by a white house aide. i would submit absent the other big important things that would be the very biggest story all weekend. let me play for you what valerie plane said about it. the message being sent is you can commit perjury and i will
vice president cheney s former chief of staff as president trump has issued him a pardon. his 2007 conviction for lying about events surrounding the leak of the identity of cia officer valerie plane has been the source of great controversy over the years. many have argued that libby was the victim of a politically motivated special counsel run amok. that special prosecutor, patrick fitzgerald who was appointed by then deputy attorney general james comey, made the probe more about catching libby and ally than identifying a leaker. today, the president cited former new york times reporter judith miller as a key part of libby s pardon. one of the key witnesses against mr. libby, judith miller recanted her testimony stating publicly that she believed the prosecutor withheld relevant information that would have altered significantly what she said. you may remember we went through a review of her own.