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Flashback: John Ashcroft on Special Prosecutors

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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