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Flashback: John Ashcroft on Special Prosecutors

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed Oct 01, 2003 at 09:58:09 PM EST
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Liberal Oasis did the research and comes up with this gem from Attorney General John Ashcroft from October 4, 1997 when he appeared on CNN's Evans & Novak, in which he expresses his support for independent counsel to investigate issues surrounding Al Gore's fundraising:

ASHCROFT: The truth of the matter is that if the law's been violated, we should be able to ascertain that. We can, if we have an independent person without a conflict of interest…

ROWLAND EVANS: …The attorney general has shaved down all the allegations that Vice President Gore apparently down to one single allegation -- which telephone he used to make these fundraising calls from. Do you really think that alone is worthy of a special prosecutor?

ASHCROFT: …you know, a single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor. If you're abusing government property, if you're abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference on that.

So my own view is that there are plenty of things which should have caused [Attorney General Janet Reno], a long time ago, to appoint a special prosecutor, an independent investigator. We asked for that on March the 13th of this year in letters from Republican members on the Judiciary Committee. And she's in a bad position…

…The man who signs her check is the man that she's investigating, and she hasn't been very aggressive about it.

Liberal Oasis then connects the dots:

Ashcroft is not an “independent person without a conflict of interest.”

A potential suspect, Karl Rove, once worked for Ashcroft, and “the man who signs [his] check” is someone he’s investigating.

And we have “a single allegation” of “abusing [one’s] status in office.”

So by Ashcroft’s own standard, he cannot “ascertain” “if the law’s been violated.”

< Ashcroft: Worst Attorney General in History? | Rush Limbaugh Resigns From ESPN >

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