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Tom DeLay’s legal advisers are ruling out seeking a presidential pardon for the embattled former House majority leader.
DeLay (R-Texas), who declined to comment for this article, resigned from Congress more than two years ago after being indicted, and remains embroiled in legal proceedings in Texas and Washington.
With Bush’s second term winding down, DeLay is the most prominent politician and Bush ally who could benefit from presidential clemency.
But Richard Cullen, who is representing DeLay in the federal investigation against him, said there should be no question of a pardon.
“I would rule it out,” he said. “No one has suggested that Mr. DeLay is guilty of a crime. He has stated clearly that he has not committed a crime.”
Pardons loom large in the waning months of any presidency, and DeLay’s case could be especially salient because his legal travails have already cost more than a million dollars in legal fees, with no end in sight.
At least one other former Republican lawmaker, Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (Calif.), has petitioned for a presidential pardon, according to the Justice Department.
DeLay was one of Bush’s most effective partners in Congress during the first six years of his administration, helping the president pass his biggest legislative achievements, including the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug bill.
Legal experts say a person does not need to request a pardon to receive one from the president.
Margaret Colgate Love, the U.S. pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997, said: “Historically, most people who have been pardoned have asked to be pardoned, but there have been exceptions.”
Love said President Clinton commuted the sentences of Puerto Rican nationalists without receiving requests.
“I understand there were a number of people who were the beneficiaries of final grants who didn’t ask.”
President Clinton also pardoned former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) for mail fraud even though the ex-lawmaker did not solicit clemency, according to a media report at the time.
Bush could only grant DeLay amnesty from possible federal charges.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) would have the power to halt DeLay’s prosecution on state money-laundering charges.
DeLay’s lawyer in Texas, Dick DeGuerin, said he would “love for him to do that” but emphasized that DeLay has not asked for a pardon.
“Usually a pardon is for someone who has done something wrong,” said DeGuerin. “Tom DeLay didn’t do anything wrong.”
DeGuerin also said that DeLay was told by the Justice Department that he is not a target of its investigation, but that cannot be confirmed. Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) made the same assertion before he pleaded guilty to corruption charges two years ago.
DeLay’s allies say Bush and Perry should avoid pardoning the former GOP leader even though legal action against him has dragged on for years without resolution.
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