Secret 9/11 memo reveals Bush rewriting the history of the 9/11 attacks & the warnings he'd tuned ou

[Kid Berwyn]

83. Ashcroft WARNED not to fly commercial airlines that summer.

So Uncle Sam paid for a private jet.



Ashcroft Flying High

BY CBSNEWS.COM STAFF CBSNEWS.COM STAFF
JULY 26, 2001 / 7:04 PM / 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.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ashcroft-flying-high/