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Attorney General Ashcroft in the Hot Seat Before Senate Judiciary Committee

Aired December 07, 2001 - 05:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Attorney General John Ashcroft was in the hot seat before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Ashcroft turned the tables and went on the offensive in response to congressional critics of President Bush's anti-terrorism policy.

And CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was perhaps Ashcroft's strongest defense yet of the legal tactics in the administration's war on terror.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our legal powers are targeted at terrorists. Our investigation is focused on terrorists. Our prevention strategy targets the terrorist threat.

CANDIOTTI: There was general support from both sides of the aisle.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The American people are not interested in watching us quibble about whether we should provide more rights than the constitution requires to the criminals and terrorists who are devoted to killing our people.

CANDIOTTI: But both Republicans and Democrats peppered Ashcroft with questions about military tribunals that could be used to try non- citizens charged with war crimes.

ASHCROFT: Are we supposed to read them the Miranda rights, hire a flamboyant defense lawyer, bring them back to the United States to create a new cable network of Osama TV?

CANDIOTTI: Ashcroft would not specify how the tribunals will work. It's up to the Pentagon, he said. But Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy wanted Congress in the loop.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: But if you have a congressional framework, congressional approval, a lot of the questions that are being asked would stop.

CANDIOTTI: Another controversy, some law makers saw a double standard when Justice Department lawyers forbid the FBI from checking a computer database to see whether suspected terrorists had bought weapons. They asked if gun owning rights are more important than the anti-terror hunt.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: When it comes to the area of even illegal immigrants getting guns and finding out if they did, this administration becomes weak as a wet noodle.

ASHCROFT: The United States Congress specifically outlaws and bans the use of the nixed, nixed database, and that's the use of approved purchase records for weapons checks on possible terrorists or on anyone else.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Despite the ongoing controversy, the latest polls show most Americans support the administration's legal drive against terror, including the use of military tribunals.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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