In a July 4 New York Times article on the “long debate” the White House claimed to have engaged in before President Bush commuted former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby's 30-month prison term, reporters Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jim Rutenberg reported that the process “was almost clinical” and involved a “detailed focus on the facts of the case,” citing “the accounts of two Republican allies of the White House” who chose to remain anonymous "[b]ecause the deliberations were so closely held." The article quoted one of the anonymous Republicans saying: “They were digging deeply into the substance of the charges against him, and the defense for him.” But Stolberg and Rutenberg offered no explanation of why a Republican ally of the Bush administration should be granted anonymity simply to back up the White House's claims regarding the Libby commutation.

Stolberg and Rutenberg quoted Bush's July 3 claim that he “weighed this decision carefully,” and reported that "[t]he White House deliberations in the case of Mr. Libby, a key architect of the war in Iraq who served as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, were scattered throughout Mr. Bush's regular business over the past several weeks, an administration official said." The article went on to report:

That description, along with the accounts of two Republican allies of the White House, illuminated a process that was almost clinical, with a detailed focus on the facts of the case, which stemmed from an investigation into the leak of a C.I.A. operative's identity. Mr. Libby was accused of lying to investigators and was convicted on four felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice.

Because the deliberations were so closely held, those who spoke about them agreed to do so only anonymously. But by several different accounts, Mr. Bush spent weeks thinking about the case against Mr. Libby and consulting closely with senior officials, including Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff; Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel; and Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's departing counselor.

“They were digging deeply into the substance of the charges against him, and the defense for him,” one of the Republicans close to the White House said.

The second Republican said the overarching question was “did he lie?”