On the October 9 edition of his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck falsely asserted that former vice-presidential chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby “went to jail” after being convicted on charges of perjury, lying to the FBI, and obstructing justice in connection with the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Beck stated: “I said that Scooter Libby should go to jail and he should pay the price for lying to prosecutors. ... He lied to prosecutors. The guy went to jail.” Beck's guest, Republican strategist Amy Holmes, replied, “Right.” In fact, on July 2, just after a federal appeals court rejected Libby's request to remain free on bond while he appealed his conviction, President Bush commuted all of Libby's 30-month prison sentence.

Beck's assertion came during a segment on former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger, who pleaded guilty on April 2, 2005, to a charge of knowingly removing classified documents from the National Archives. Beck was comparing the two cases -- Libby's and Berger's -- and their fallout. Beck said, “This thing [the Berger case] stinks from high heaven. I mean, Scooter Libby, everybody was screaming about Scooter Libby.” He continued: “I said that Scooter Libby should go to jail and he should pay the price for lying to prosecutors, but it was over a CIA name thing, which was nothing. Nobody was held responsible. He did nothing wrong on that. He lied to prosecutors. The guy went to jail. ... This guy [Berger] is stealing documents for the 9-11 Commission.”

In addition to the now-commuted prison term, Libby was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and fined $250,000.

From the October 9 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: But first, welcome to “The Real Story.” Tonight, I've got a very special “Real Story.” It's an edition of America's favorite new game show: Name That Criminal! That's right. Today's category is presidential candidate advisers. And you can play at home because you might be a big loser.

Here we go. This presidential adviser to a current presidential candidate once paid a $23,000 conflict-of-interest civil penalty after he, quote, “forgot” to sell a stockholding prior to taking over a high-ranking White House position. Hint number two: This adviser once faced allegations that as national security adviser, he withheld information from the president of the United States about the Chinese government stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos for over a year. Oh, that crazy adviser.

Now, the last clue: This person once stuffed classified documents meant for the 9-11 Commission on, you know, “what did you know and when did you know it?” into his pants and socks. He snuck them out of the Archives, hid them under a construction trailer, destroyed them, lied about it to investigators, and was fined a whole whopping $50,000, stripped of his security clearance -- I think for two years when he was put on probation -- and now is a, quote, “unofficial adviser” to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, but still an official friend.

Republican strategist Amy Holmes, you're today's lucky contestant. Can you name that criminal?

HOLMES: For 5,000, I say Sandy Berger.

BECK: Yes, Sandy Berger!

Amy, what is wrong with America? What is happening to us? When we got a guy going into our National Archives stealing documents, not for any hearing, not for any session of Congress, but for the 9-11 Commission, stealing documents, and nobody seems to care in America. Nobody seems to care.

HOLMES: Glenn, I wouldn't blame America. I'd blame Hillary Clinton who, after all, took his telephone calls. And I'm saying, why is she taking his phone calls? Not only did he have to plead guilty to these charges, but he didn't even tell her husband about a matter of supreme national security interest about the documents stolen from Los Alamos.

BECK: But hang on, Amy. I mean, you know, I'd like to throw you a bone on this one, because, I mean, here's this guy, he's a scumbag that has been in the Clinton administration, and he's going to be moving into the next administration, God forbid, if she wins. But I can't do it. I can't give you this bone because George Bush was president. And I never saw George Bush coming out and saying, “We need to lay the hammer down on people who are stealing documents, presidential documents from the National Archives.” Where were the Republicans on this one?

HOLMES: Well, you know, I have to tell you, I asked myself the same question: Why weren't they, you know, raising a clamor over this? Why did Sandy Berger seem to just sort of just skate by on all of this? I really don't -- I don't have a good answer for that, other than perhaps they didn't want to get down into the dirt with the Clintons.

BECK: Oh, come on. This thing stinks from high heaven. I mean, Scooter Libby, everybody was screaming about Scooter Libby.

HOLMES: Sure.

BECK: OK, even I said that Scooter Libby should go to jail and he should pay the price for lying to prosecutors, but it was over a CIA name thing, which was nothing. Nobody was held responsible. He did nothing wrong on that. He lied to prosecutors. The guy went to jail.

HOLMES: Right.

BECK: This guy is stealing documents for the 9-11 Commission.

HOLMES: Documents that could have helped us understand what led up to 9-11.

BECK: Exactly right. So it leads you to believe that -- I mean, this is like somebody going in right before the Warren Commission and stealing documents on the mob.

HOLMES: You know, Glenn, I couldn't agree with you more. And I also wondered, why didn't the national press make more of a story of this? I mean, this was completely buried in the news press, in the print -- in the television media. Sandy Berger, I mean, that name should be on every person's lips for synonymous with stuffing documents in your socks.

BECK: It's the corruption of our political system. Real quick, she says, “I have a ton of friends that are unofficial advisers.” How stupid does she think Americans are?

HOLMES: Well, you know, this whole story, it just raises the question, you know, here we go again. Are we going to get this all over again?

BECK: Please. And then we can run Jeb Bush. And by that time, Chelsea will be old enough to run. Thanks, Amy.