Pleosi has released the following statement:
Today’s guilty verdicts are not solely about the acts of one individual.
This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush Administration. The testimony unmistakably revealed – at the highest levels of the Bush Administration – a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information and a disposition to smear critics of the war in Iraq.
Harry Reid has also called on Bush to not pardon Libby:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today released the following statement on news that a jury has found Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.
“I welcome the jury’s verdict. It’s about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics. Lewis Libby has been convicted of perjury, but his trial revealed deeper truths about Vice President Cheney’s role in this sordid affair. Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct.”
So now what? I say since Libby is guilty of trying to interfere with an investigation into the outing of a CIA agent and Bush wanted to know who leaked, Bush should demand further investigations. Of course that won’t happen, so Bush is, in a sense, complicit.
That leads us to the obvious. It is time for serious congressional hearings into this matter. Dick Cheney must be forced to testify under oath before Congress. We are dealing with some of the highest crimes in the land here and they merit such attention.