A Sweeping Presidential Power

CLAIR GEORGE knows pardons. The former chief of the CIA’s clandestine operations, George was convicted in early December 1992 of two counts of lying to Congress in connection with the Iran-contra affair. Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, outgoing president George H. W. Bush pardoned George, along with former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, former national security adviser Robert McFarlane, and three others.

Now, George is watching the case of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who in March was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak matter. “I think he should be pardoned,” George says of Libby. “I don’t quite know what it was that he lied about. But I’m not quite sure in my own trial what I lied about.”

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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CLAIR GEORGE knows pardons. The former chief of the CIA’s clandestine operations, George was convicted in early December 1992 of two counts of lying to Congress in connection with the Iran-contra affair. Two weeks later, on Christmas Eve, outgoing president George H. W. Bush pardoned George, along with former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, former national security adviser Robert McFarlane, and three others.

Now, George is watching the case of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who in March was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak matter. “I think he should be pardoned,” George says of Libby. “I don’t quite know what it was that he lied about. But I’m not quite sure in my own trial what I lied about.”