Did Ashcroft brush off terror warnings? (Ashcroft lied under oath?)

[Robbien]

NBC exclusive: 9/11 commission interviews FBI officials who contradict Ashcroft testimony
By Lisa Myers
Senior investigative correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 6:37 p.m. ET June 22, 2004

WASHINGTON - 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.

. . .

At issue is a July 5, 2001, meeting between Ashcroft and acting FBI Director Tom Pickard. That month, the threat of an al-Qaida attack was so high, the White House summoned the FBI and domestic agencies, and warned them to be on alert.

Yet, Pickard testified to the 9/11 commission that when he tried to brief Ashcroft just a week later, on July 12, about the terror threat inside the United States, he got the brush off.

"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.

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."

Much more:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5271234/

[Rebellious Republican]

1. Hmmm, typo or is that the actual wording from Asskiss......

"I did never speak to him saying that I didn't want to hear about terrorism."
I just noticed the placement of the word "Did" in the sentence?

[Bluebear]

6. That was the EXACT wording. It struck me when he said it too.

Nervous about something maybe?

[Hoping4Change]

9. I too in my post, tut tutting Asscroft also opine that the syntax is

mighty peculiar. I think he was about to say "I did" but caught himself at the last minute.

[AndyTiedye]

25. Lightning Bolts Coming Out of the Sky, Perhaps?

If he believes in the kind of God he claims to....

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

13. Could this wording provide some "weasel room" if perjury charges are filed

Double negative = positive??

JB

[wryter2000]

2. Hot damn

On NBC yet.

[Hoping4Change]

3. So god-fearing, goodlier-than-thou Asscroft lying. Tut. Tut.

Don't you find the syntax of "I did never" very odd? It seems as if he meant to say "I did speak to him" but at the last minute caught himself about to spill the beans so he quickly inserted the "never".

[Mithras61]

4. More likely in my opinion is...

that he started to say something like "I did not never speak to him..." but realized it was too obviously a double negative.

[enough]

5. Wow. Two big problems for our top law-enforcement officer:

That he brushed off pre-911 concerns about terrorism. and that he lied under oath.


PLEASE, MEDIA and DEMS, keep this story alive.

[indepat]

11. And in contempt of Congress. Sadly most of the mainstream media and

the Repukes in Congress care nary a whit what this holy man does or does not do, how much malfeasance goes on in his office, how much he ignored the looming terrorist threat while going after those whores, that medical marijuana, the right-to-die movement.

[Career Prole]

7. Not that I'd ever brag on you guys at DU

but I distinctly remember reading in the thread(s) which were running here during the testimony many comments about this very incident now deemed an NBC scoop. You guys nailed this one as soon as it got past his lying lips. I say it's your scoop. Me...I just read that day, and it was all I could do to keep up!
DU kicks ass!

:yourock:

[fearnobush]

15. That day was the day of proof that the 911 commission was truely a

whitewash. They did not even cross question him, they let him get away with the greatest lie that proves at best, Bush admin did nothing, at worst, Bush let it happen or made it happen!

[clydefrand]

8. Maybe he'll

get his ass canned??? Let's hope.

[mom cat]

12. Let the eagle soar... like shes never soared before! Looks like a

jailbird instead of an eagle. By the way, welcome to DU. It's an incurable addiction. Enjoy.

[Robbien]

10. Ruben Garcia also confirmed Ashcroft's dissmissal

The article states 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.

This is damning stuff. Three independent sources state that Ashcroft lied.

[UpInArms]

14. out of the rabbit hole this pops :)

Ashcroft Flying High

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

(CBS) Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

<snip>

Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

Earlier this week, the Justice Department leased a NASA-owned G-3 Gulfstream for a 6-day trip to Western states. Such aircraft cost the government more than $1,600 an hour to fly. When asked whether Ashcroft was paying for any portion of the trips devoted to personal business, a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to respond.

All other Bush Cabinet appointees, with the exception of Interior and Energy with remote sites to oversee, fly commercial airliners. Janet Reno, Ashcroft's predecessor as attorney general, also routinely flew commercial. The secretaries of State and Defense traditionally travel with extra security on military planes.

...more...

so you did know that there were terror warnings about commercial aircraft didn't you, Mr. AssKKKrap?

[Politicub]

17. Check out that dateline

Aug. 26 2001! The Bush admin knew. It's clear to me that they are covering up that they knew.

The Bush admin used 9/11 then to advance their sick agenda, and they are continuing to use it.

What's truly frightening, though, is that if Bush and his cronies did know and didn't move to stop the events of 9/11, is what they would do to stay in power.

[havocmom]

18. thinking back to his testimony to the commission; didn't he maintain he

flew commercial when it was his won private travel and chartered when it was official business?

so, was he after some mob fish who was gonna give testimony against the Big Fish?

[struggle4progress]

19. Well, somebody named Ashcroft is a lying POS. I wonder who? eom

[truthisfreedom]

16. did never! i did never! did never did never did never! you can't say i

did, 'cuz i did never never never! blehhhh!

[number6]

20. I have absolutely no doubt the slimmy little butcrack lied ...

Asscroft the lier :thumbsdown:

[DeepModem Mom]

21. kick

[kayell]

22. Kick again for the morning people

[G_j]

23. more.... Ashcroft's Record of Lying to Congress About 9/11

http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/read.asp?fn=df04132004.html

Ashcroft's Record of Lying to Congress About 9/11


With Attorney General John Ashcroft testifying before the 9/11 Commission today, a quick analysis of his previous statements shows he has repeatedly lied to Congress about the Bush Administration's counterterrorism record. Specifically, when questioned by Congress in 2002 about why he tried to de-prioritize and slash funding for counterterrorism before 9/11, Ashcroft resorted to dishonest denials -- even in the face of budget documents that proved he was not telling the truth.

For instance, in testimony before the House of Representatives, Ashcroft said that before 9/11, his "number-one goal" at the Justice Department "was the prevention of terrorist acts" and that he immediately "began to shape the department and its efforts in that respect"1. But according to the Washington Post, internal Administration documents from before 9/11 "show that Ashcroft ranked counterterrorism efforts as a lower priority than his predecessor did"2. The documents "indicate that before Sept. 11, Ashcroft did not give terrorism top billing in his strategic plans for the Justice Department, which includes the FBI. A draft of Ashcroft's 'Strategic Plan' from Aug. 9, 2001, does not put fighting terrorism as one of the department's seven goals, ranking it as a sub-goal beneath gun violence and drugs."

Ashcroft tried to blame his negligence of counterterrorism on the previous Administration, telling Congress that "the five-year plan that had been put in place by my predecessor didn't mention counterterrorism"3. But according to the New York Times, "the plan issued by Attorney General Janet Reno in 2000 said the Justice Department would have to devote more attention and resources to terrorism, citing sophisticated computer and bomb-making technology and the 'emerging threats of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons'"4.

Ashcroft has even been dishonest about events after 9/11, telling Congress that when the Administration was writing the emergency counterterrorism funding bill after the attacks, the FBI "came to me with a $670 million request, and we counseled them to take that to $1.1 billion"5. But according to the Washington Post, "In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI... The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million"6. Ashcroft "cut the FBI's request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for 'collaborative capabilities.'"

Sources:
Attorney General John Ashcroft testimony, 02/28/2002.
"FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11", Washington Post, 02/22/2004.
Attorney General John Ashcroft testimony, 02/28/2002.
New York Times, 03/01/2002.
Attorney General John Ashcroft testimony, 02/28/2002.
"FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11", Washington Post, 02/22/2004.

[AndyTiedye]

24. kick

:kick: this Asswhatever out of office and into

[Robbien]

26. It is scary how no one, not even NBC has followed up on this

NBC had an exclusive. They put it on the air, then rapidily dropped it.

Not one word. Not one word from any other source either. Common Dreams picked it up, but that is it. No mainstream, no cable, no website, no foreign press.

Scary

[young_at_heart]

27. How many Americans trust Ashcroft?

Just read the Vanity Fair article about him and you will wonder about every word he utters.

[G_j]

28. here is the article, VERY scary

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Ashcroft-Patriot-Games1feb04.htm

John Ashcroft's Patriot Games

JUDY BACHRACH / Vanity Fair 1feb04

The revolution inside John Ashcroft's Justice Department—an array of new crime-prevention powers embodied in the Patriot Act—has been fueled by the attorney general's ambition, intelligence, and unusually extreme beliefs about everything from the similarities between himself and Jesus to the post-9/11 role of law enforcement, to the purported demonic properties of calico cats. But as nervous sources share stories of his Missouri governorship, and former staffers and Senate allies speak out, JUDY BACHRACH discovers that Ashcroft has also sparked a growing backlash, one with surprisingly bipartisan power

"The only thing more
offensive than a nonbeliever
to Ashcroft is a believer who
is non-fundamentalist."
----


In the summer of 2001. John Ashcroft, George W. Bush's new attorney general, was holding one of his early-morning prayer meetings in his office. It was a gathering of I2—many of them Justice Department employees who had asked to attend. many carefully vetted as to their upbringing and religious affiliation. On the appointed day, they were ushered into a room containing a collection of baseball bats, a photograph of the Pope. and. most intriguingly new beige-and-red furniture."So much better than Janet Reno's." declared a participant, eager to curry favor with the boss.

Ashcroft beamed. At 61. he is a devout member of the Assemblies of God. a Pentecostal denomination that disapproves of drinking. dancing. and pre-marital sex. As a boy, he never went to the movies, because, he has said, his parents told him, "If you pay 15 cents to get into a movie, 7 cents of that will go to support a Holly-wood lifestyle we disagree with." But he is not indifferent to power and its trappings—indeed, he harbored strong presidential hopes as late as 1998—and it is in his nature to combine piety with ambition. In 1995, for example. when he became the junior senator from Missouri. he was anointed by friends (in the style of "the ancient kings of Israel," he has noted) with Crisco oil from the kitchen.


,,more,..

[wabeewoman]

31. Thanks

for posting this. Excellent article. If you haven't read it, I recommend you take the time...

[G_j]

32. YW kick....

[thecrow]

29. KICK KICK KICK!!!!!!!

[G_j]

30. kick

:kick:

[dusty64]

33. He ought to be

removed from office, yet remains. Its baffling how many crimes they get away with every week, bet the standards will change in a BIG hurry when they Democrats return to power.

[Eurobabe]

34. why interfere with the "trifecta" coming down the pike?

n/t