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Will Rove Get a Pardon?
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The author of Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove on whether Bush will pardon his longtime advisor.
The end-of-term pardons of George W. Bush have already begun, with pardons granted for everything from tax evasion, to killing endangered wildlife, to cocaine possession.
But one of the hottest topics in Washington these days is whether Karl Rove—the “architect” of Bush’s political career and one of the most controversial figures of his presidency—will get a pardon. At present, Rove, who withstood five grand jury appearances in the case concerning the illegal outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, has not been charged with a crime. But he has been linked to the case involving Justice Department firings of U.S. Attorneys which is still under investigation. He also could face legal exposure on a number of other incidents—ranging from a Texas money laundering scandal to the Abramoff case—if newly empowered Democrats attempt to prosecute wrongdoing during the Bush era down the road.
For Bush, pardoning Rove could put his loyalty to a longtime adviser at odds with his desire to protect his legacy.
A pardon by Bush would be pre-emptive. “It would be very Nixonian,” says Roger Stone, the Republican political consultant. “You know—‘I, Gerald Ford, pardon this guy for any crimes he may have committed.’ It’s certainly been done before.”
For Bush, pardoning Rove could put his loyalty to a longtime adviser at odds with his desire to protect his legacy. The controversial pardons issued by President Bill Clinton on his way out of office in January 2001 still haunt him—a blemish on his record he probably didn’t fully foresee when he issued them. As a result, Bush may consider more carefully the pardons he gives, in an effort to keep from further sullying a legacy defined by disappointment on both the national and international fronts.
So what crimes may have Rove committed, for which he could be pardoned? When Rove left the Bush administration in the summer of 2007, insiders believed he was touched by a handful of scandals that contributed to the air of controversy that had come to define his time in Washington. The political seminars orchestrated by Rove in the White House, complete with PowerPoint side shows indicating how Republicans could win certain key races for seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives, were an obvious violation of the Hatch Act, which forbids the use of government property for political activity.
There was the strong belief among insiders that Rove had additional exposure to the polit ical money-laundering scandal in Texas, where corporate contributions were improperly made by the national Republican Party to state campaigns in Texas, which had ended the career of Tom DeLay, the Majority Whip and a political powerbroker. In addition, Rove may have had a deeper entanglement in the illegal business-dealings that sent flamboyant lobbyist Jack Abramoff to prison—the reason Rove had his assistant Susan Ralston alter his calendar to cover up meetings he had had with Abramoff. Both Rove’s association with Abramoff and his orders to Ralston to alter his calendar were sources of deep concern.
But the scandal that presents Rove with the greatest legal peril was the purging of several United States attorneys at the beginning of Bush’s second term—as well as Rove’s manipulation of the US attorney system in general, as represented by the case of former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, whose conviction and imprisonment for an act that was not a crime is now viewed by many observers as nothing short of a political prosecution. Rove had some knowledge of that prosecution, if not outright complicity. Fear over what he might have to reveal concerning his knowledge of or participation in the Siegelman prosecution, not to mention his apparent proclivity to influence US attorneys, seemingly prevented Rove from appearing before the House Judiciary Committee this summer, even after that committee had subpoenaed him to testify. As yet, Rove has still refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena—a flagrant obfuscation by a former government official.
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Paul Alexander is the author of Machiavelli’s Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove and Man of the People: The Life of John McCain, among others. A member of The Authors Guild and PEN American Center, Paul has been a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Forestroot
W is already bragging about all his successes--especially in Iraq. This guy is oblivious. He is like Mr. McGoo, stuck in a mire of pig doo-doo, thinking he is at a spa in a plush mud bath. Bugliosi in one of most recent C-Span appearances, said he was sending his new book on Bush as a murderer to every single DA in the country. His biggest fear is that W is going to be able to lounge around for decades, living the good life when he should be in prison for life. Rove was just the Propaganda Minister--although his fingerprints are all over certain illegal prosecutions or prosecutorial omissions. Rove is a liar but he did not set policy. At any rate, I now think that W will not issue blanket pardons when he does not have the faintest idea that he or his team did anything wrong.
coloradokarl
Don't Kid Yourselves, EVERYONE gets a Pardon. Even the people that are not guilty will get pardons, Just To Be On The Safe Side. If I was Bush I would do the same thing.
magicspin
Why should it be just one turkey that gets pardoned?
monkeyman
He WILL be pardoned! The code among "good ol' boy cliques is very much adhered to, even by hypocrital, treacherous morons. W knows if he isn't pardoned he will be roasted. He has orchestrated more damage and pain to more people than any figure in the last 50 or so years. Terminology doesn't even exist that accurately describes the absence of redemption for this scoundrel. If you start listing all he has initiated it would take hours to finish. He should be locked up forever or worse.
AndreainNY
"That dislike, however, has not necessarily translated to the public."
That might just be because the guy is brilliant and worth listening to. He's popular for a reason -- and hated for a reason. He's outsmarted quite a few people, who despise him.
quatro
Carl Rove is not brilliant and is not worth listening to. He is a traitor to his country. He will get a pardon from Bush because he will tell Bush to do so. Bush does what he is told.
Having said that-- It is a well known fact that Carl orchestrated
the theft of the 04 election so it seems to me that we need to prove it in a court of law. Once that is done we can reverse everything the Bush administration has done including any pardons.
Then we prosecute every one of them.
condo1
george pardon carl; and they all live appily everafter in texas never to be hopefully heard from again. have these guys done enough damage to our country in the last 8 years. poor pap bush; must make him sick to see what george has done; who he pals around with. can't u see carl and scotter and george riding off into the sunset.
ReturnToHavana
Who didn't see this coming? Since the beginning of the 2nd term? But first, our legally challenged former AttGen, then Rove, the V-P, Rumey, Scooter, on & on. So where was the "liberal" media w/questions about this issue earlier? Speaking of which, if Gov. P believes Gibson & SK asked hardball questons she obviously does not remember Sam Donaldson.
jpmjr73
This guy needs to lay off the cool aid.
Rove will not be charged with anything
The new guy preaching CHANGE had instead loaded up on Clinton cronies. My advise, lock up the young girls!
Screw you
sultanofbaseball
I am not in favor of Presidential pardons under any circumstances but if I was Karl Rove would not be one of them.We still do not know fully his role in the Valerie Plame Scooter Libby situation.
JohnMuir
Rove is like the first mate on the biggest pirate ship ever. He and Chaney should not only be prosecuted but keel-hauling also comes to mind.
EThompson
"That might just be because the guy is brilliant and worth listening to. He's popular for a reason -- and hated for a reason. He's outsmarted quite a few people, who despise him."
Or it could just be that people will basically excuse anything from anyone that agrees with them.
I'm not sure you can call his scummy tactics "outsmarting" someone, either. He's pretty much Limbaugh without a drug problem.
donatello
This entire group should not pass go, not collect anything but a slow crush of the jewels, then a public persecution slowly, painfully, tearing those jewels from their mount, in front of all their peers in hell.. When no jewels are present, jalapeno laced super glue with cactus needles inserted one at a time would come close to justice, I hope you get the idea this is not sarcasm.
hockeydog
The thing about Karl Rove is that he is a bully! Despite the fact that he is shrewd and cunning, his is a third-rate mentality. Bush's legacy may be questionable, but his morality has never been in doubt. The irony is that his original chief advisor, the infamous "turd blossom" has no morality at all. It is doubtful he will ever serve prison time regardless of the number of lives and careers he has ruined. But I salute The Daily Beast for keeping a little spotlight on this dark, slimey crawler of a person.
donatello
After taking a second look the next day I must repeat the Bush/Cheney montra, "We American's don't torture". (This is sarcasm).
Thank you.
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