Poor John Ashcroft; he’s had a rough couple of years as attorney general. Just in the last couple of months, he’s lost all credibility on potential terrorist threats, he’s been chided by his boss for inappropriate leaks, he’s been threatened with subpoenas by the Senate, he’s lost some big federal cases, and the White House has hinted publicly about his replacement.
Things could, however, get considerably worse. NBC News has a new report suggesting that Ashcroft may have lied under oath to the 9/11 Commission.
The 9/11 commission is busy writing its final report, but is still investigating critical facts, including the conduct of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. NBC News has learned that the commission has interviewed two FBI officials who contradict sworn testimony by Ashcroft, about whether he brushed off terrorism warnings in the summer of 2001.
Uh oh.
To be sure, Ashcroft already has plenty of explaining to do. After all, it was Ashcroft who cut funding for counterterrorism in his budget before 9/11 and cut the FBI’s counterterrorism funding immediately after 9/11. A former FBI director has even said that Ashcroft rejected a plea for an extra $58 million to combat al Qaeda in the summer of 2001.
But the NBC report moves the ball forward in a significant way.
In July 2001, just two months from the 9/11 attacks, Ashcroft met with acting FBI Director Tom Pickard, among others, at the White House to discuss potential threats. According to Pickard, he wanted to brief Ashcroft a week later, on July 12, about the terror threat inside the United States. Ashcroft was disinterested.
“Mr. Ashcroft told you that he did not want to hear about this anymore,” Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste asked on April 13. “Is that correct?”
“That is correct,” Pickard replied.
Ashcroft said the opposite, using Bush-like grammar.
Testifying under oath the same day, Ashcroft categorically denied the allegation, saying, “I did never speak to him saying that I didn’t want to hear about terrorism.”
So, it’s a he-said, he-said? Not exactly. There are other sources.
[A]nother senior FBI official tells NBC News he vividly recalls Pickard returning from the meeting that day furious that Ashcroft had cut short the terrorism briefing. This official, now retired, has talked to the 9/11 commission.
NBC News has learned that commission investigators also tracked down another FBI witness at the meeting that day, Ruben Garcia, head of the Criminal Division at that time. Several sources familiar with the investigation say Garcia confirmed to the commission that Ashcroft did indeed dismiss Pickard’s warnings about al-Qaida.
Some are noting the seriousness of the problem.
“When you get two people coming forth and basically challenging a sworn statement by the attorney general regarding a critical meeting in the history of the 9/11 event, you raise serious questions about the Attorney General’s truthfulness,” says Paul Light, a government reform expert and New York University professor.
Hmm, it seems to me Ashcroft had some pretty serious concerns about false testimony under oath five years ago…