US President George W. Bush last night commuted the sentence of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
He was sentenced last month to two-and-a-half-years in prison for obstructing a CIA leak investigation and his imprisonment was imminent.
Lewis
Stalwart conservatives in Mr Bush's Republican party had pressured him to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, seeing him as the victim of an overly zealous prosecutor.
Democrats swiftly condemned Mr Bush's decision. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called it "disgraceful", and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont said it was "emblematic of a White House that sees itself as being above the law".
Mr Bush stopped short of an outright pardon, leaving intact a €185,000 fine and Libby's two-years' probation. Libby still plans to appeal the conviction, his lawyer said.
"I respect the jury's verdict," Mr Bush said in a statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend 30 months in prison."
Conservatives, who lately have been at odds with Mr Bush over his support for an immigration overhaul they called an amnesty for illegal immigrants, applauded the decision.
"While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the president's decision. This will allow a good a man who has done a lot for his country to resume his life," said former Tennessee Republican senator Fred Thompson, a likely 2008 presidential candidate who helped raise money for Libby's defence.
Libby (56) was convicted in March of lying and obstructing an investigation into who blew the cover of a CIA officer, Valerie Plame, whose husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had criticised the Iraq war.
Libby was not convicted of leaking Plame's identity to the media. But Plame said the unmasking destroyed her career and was retaliation after her husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to build its case for the Iraq war which most Americans now oppose.