Scooter Libby cuts check for $250,000 fine

This image provided by the U.S. District Court, Washington, shows the check, and receipt, for the fine imposed on former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby in the CIA Leak trial, which was paid, Thursday, July 5, 2007. (AP Photo/U.S. District Court, Washington)

This is off MSNBC News:

WASHINGTON - Convicted former top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has paid his fine of $250,400.

The U.S. District Court posted the canceled check on the docket this afternoon.

A source close to Libby tells NBC the "Scooter Libby Defense Trust," which has raised more than $5 million dollars in donations, is still paying out legal fees. The source emphasized that the fine imposed by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton was paid entirely from Libby's personal funds.

In commuting Libby's sentence, President Bush said that the former vice presidential aide had suffered enough and that the 30-month prison term ordered up by a federal judge was "excessive."

The president said he respects the jury verdict convicting Libby of four felony charges of perjury and obstruction of the CIA leak investigation.

And the White House still wanted Libby to pay a fine of $250,000 and a $400 special assessment. But now there is a question on whether he will have to serve two years of supervised probation imposed by the trial judge.

The federal judge who presided over the Libby trial said that with the commutation of the prison sentence, the probation period may be called into question.

Judge Walton, who was appointed by President Bush, said Tuesday that federal law "does not appear to contemplate a situation in which a defendant may be placed under supervised release without first completing a term of incarceration."

You can bet that Libby is not feeling any pain or hardship now. President Bush commuted Libby's sentence in exchange for Libby keeping his mouth shut on the White House cover-up in the Valerie Plame scandal. And now Libby cuts a single $250,000 check to pay his fine--you can bet your paycheck that the Scooter Libby Defense Fund paid Libby's fine with the $5 million they raised. What I would like to know now, is specifically who deposited the $250,000 into Bank of America to create this cashier's check, and where did that nameless individual get the money for Scooter Libby's fine? I want to know where did the money come from to pay Scooter Libby's fine? Because I'm just betting that the money came from the Scooter Libby Defense Fund, which tells me another thing. The politically connected in this corrupt administration is getting off scott free.

Disgusting.