Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/president-bush-commutes-libby-30-month-jail-term Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Bush used his power of clemency Monday to spare I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence after a federal appeals panel refused to delay the jail term while it considers his appeal. His $250,000 fine and two years' probation remain intact. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: The first story is the announcement by the White House early this evening — in fact, moments ago — that President Bush commuted the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.Libby had been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for his role in the CIA leak scandal. The president's action means Libby will remain free.For reaction, we go to Mark Halperin, senior political analyst for Time magazine — he joins us from Iowa — and from NewsHour senior correspondent Gwen Ifill, who's in New Hampshire.Hello to you both. And this just happened, so I realize I'm asking both of you to react to something that's fresh in the news.Mark, what is your sense, having followed this story, along with the rest of us, of why the president did this? In his statement, he said that he thought the prison sentence was excessive. MARK HALPERIN, Senior Political Analyst, Time Magazine: Well, Judy, I think he did what he wanted to do all along. My gut is that the president believes, as he said in his press release announcing this, that he saw both sides of the occasion, an unusually conciliatory release from this White House, laying out the arguments against doing anything to lessen Mr. Libby's sentence.But I think there were two things at play, both maybe not by coincidence, subjects of Washington Post stories very much talked about in political circles. One, the power of Vice President Cheney. The Post did a long series talking about just how influential Vice President Cheney was. And, of course, the vice president's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, is the person whose sentence was commuted here.The other thing is the story in the Washington Post saying President Bush's presidency is over, in effect. This president is not looking, at this point I don't think, to reach out to Democrats. He's looking to do what he wants to do. He's looking to appeal to people who already support him. There will be a lot of support for what the president did on one side; on the other side, though, there's going to be a lot of anger.