Freedom

Notes Describe Frail, Upset AG Ashcroft

By Lara Jakes Jordan / The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The White House demanded in 2004 that the Justice Department approve a secret national security program without allowing the ailing attorney general, "feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed," to discuss the matter with top advisers, according to the FBI director's personal notes. The partially censored notes from FBI chief Robert S. Mueller, dated March 12, 2004, describe a distraught and feeble Attorney General John Ashcroft in his hospital room just moments after being visited by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card, the president's chief of staff at the time. Mueller's account backs up earlier descriptions of the dispute over whether to continue the program despite Justice Department concerns about its legality. Full story...

Posted by Editor at August 17, 2007 09:04 AM