Jessica McBride explains the Scooter Libby conviction in a single sentence:

He was convicted of lying to investigators about conversations with reporters he said he couldn't remember well over something that wasn't a crime and that he didn't leak first after an investigation that started out as a partisan and media witchhunt after the administration tried to defend itself against the smears of an ideologically motivated critic.

Any questions?

Hat tip: Whallah

 Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 30 months, and ordered to pay $250,000 in fines.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton (nominated to the position by President George W. Bush in 2001) handed down the sentence minutes ago.

Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice in March, blocking a DoJ investigation into the unauthorized leaking of a CIA covert agent’s identity.

The leaking of the agent’s name, Valerie Plame, was later found to be one component of a conspiracy involving top members of the Bush administration defending its publicly stated, discredited rationales for going to war against Iraq.

The leaking is seen by many as retaliation against a leading war critic, Joseph Wilson, Plame’s husband.