Documents Detail Ashcroft-Gonzales Confrontation

Mueller's Notes Chronicle Legal Dispute Over Wiretapping Program

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post

Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble" and "barely articulate" following a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to personal notes from the FBI director released today.

Five pages of heavily censored notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III also suggest that Ashcroft's deputy was so concerned about undue pressure from Gonzales and other White House aides that he asked Mueller to bar any more visitors from entering Ashcroft's room.

"Saw AG," Mueller writes in his notes for 8:10 p.m. on March 10, 2004. "Janet Ashcroft in room. AG in chair; is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed."

The records also show that Mueller met with Vice President Cheney in connection with the dispute later in the month, on March 23.

The notes, which were released after Mueller turned them over to the House Judiciary Committee, provide further insight into a tumultuous but secret legal battle that gripped the Justice Department and White House in March 2004, after senior Justice Department officials had determined that some activities of a warrantless wiretapping program run by the National Security Agency were illegal.

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