Criticisms Over Ashcroft Handling Probe

Top Justice Department and FBI officials are worried that Attorney General John Ashcroft is mishandling the probe into whether officials broke federal law when they disclosed the name of a CIA operative, a newspaper reports.

The worries by prosecutors and FBI officials — including political allies of the attorney general — who spoke to The New York Times pertain to Ashcroft's refusal to recuse himself from the probe or appoint a special counsel. It comes as the Justice Department faces the critical choice of whether to convene a grad jury.

Ashcroft has also come under fire, The Times reports, for allowing the White House to learn of the probe well before counsel Alberto Gonzales told staff to preserve evidence.

Officials who spoke with the Times say they worry Ashcroft could be damaged by the impression he is not impartial. One told the newspaper that the debate over whether to appoint a special counsel was "wide open."

NYTimes -- Senior Federal Prosecutors and F.B.I. Officials Fault Ashcroft Over Leak Inquiry

Several senior criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department and top F.B.I. officials have privately criticized Attorney General John Ashcroft for failing to recuse himself or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak of a C.I.A. operative's identity.

The criticism reflects the first sign of dissension in the department and the F.B.I. as the inquiry nears a critical phase. The attorney general must decide whether to convene a grand jury, which could compel White House officials to testify.

The criminal justice officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, represent a cross section of experienced criminal prosecutors and include political supporters of Mr. Ashcroft at the department's headquarters here and at United States attorneys' offices around the country.

Mr. Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, have also been under fire for their initial handling of the case. The Justice Department allowed the White House to wait overnight on Sept. 28 before sending an electronic message ordering White House employees not to destroy records related to the leak.

Ashley Snee, a spokesman for Mr. Gonzales, said he believed the delay was acceptable because no one in the White House had any idea there was an investigation. But The New York Times and The Washington Post had reported the day before that the C.I.A. had forwarded the matter to the Justice Department for possible investigation.