Ashcroft Criticizes Ex-President

John Ashcroft used his first interview as U.S. attorney general to take out after former President Bill Clinton over the war on drugs and his pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

In a television interview Wednesday night, the new head of the Justice Department said his top three goals were to increase gun prosecutions, reinvigorate the war on drugs and to stamp out racial discrimination.

But he also looked back at some of Mr. Clinton's most controversial moves, including his pardon of Rich on his last day in office.

"A pardon should be reserved for a situation where there is a manifest sense of injustice," Ashcroft said Wednesday night on CNN's Larry King Live program. "The American people are troubled whenever they think a pardon would be associated with political support or financial support."

Although expressing "surprise" with the pardon, Ashcroft nevertheless said the Constitution gives a president a "pretty unfettered right" to pardon anyone.

Mr. Clinton's pardon has been criticized because Rich has stayed in Switzerland rather than returning to face 51 counts of tax evasion and fraud filed against him in 1983.

In addition, the pardon was requested by his ex-wife, Denise, who has given Democrats about $1 million since 1993. Mr. Clinton has denied any political or financial motivation.

The new attorney general also blamed Mr. Clinton in part for a rise in marijuana use during the 1990s. In the 1992 campaign, Mr. Clinton said he once had smoked marijuana, but didn't inhale. He later told an MTV town forum that if he had to do it again, he would inhale "if I could; I tried before."

"That sends the wrong signal," Ashcroft said. "It's so important you have a president who will speak forcefully against drug use, rather than wink and give the nod in some sense, saying 'I didn't inhale, but I wish I had.'"

Ashcroft said he and President Bush want to "concentrate on educating children away from drugs."

Listing his three top priorities, Ashcroft said, "I want to stop gun violence, to reinvigorate the war on drugs, to end discrimination wherever I find it."

He particularly mentioned enforcing voting rights, fair housing laws and putting a stop to racial profiling by police. "It's wrong for police to stop people based on race."

After his civil rights record was bitterly attacked during a stormy Senate confirmation battle, Ashcroft is inviting Justice Department's civil rights division officials to a lunch in his private department dining room next week, chief spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said.

With every news organization clamoring to talk to him, Ashcroft unveiled his priorities in an interview with King, known for polite questioning rather than hostile cross-examination.

Ashcroft has three main civil rights issues in mind, Tucker said.

"He wants to make sure no America feels outside the protection of the law," she said. "He wants to make sure all people have access and that no voting rights are violated."

This includes the department's ongoing investigation of the presidential election in Florida, where black voters have complained were systematically turned away from the polls, she said.

He also wants to "take a serious look at hate crimes," Tucker said. He previously opposed legislation backed by the Clinton administration to expand the federal hate crimes law to cover attacks on homosexuals.

In an effort to reduce the incidence of gun crimes, Ashcroft said he wants to expand a federal antigun effort used in Virginia known as Project Exile. Under the project, federal prosecutors handle most gun crimes and seek stiff sentences. The National Rifle Association strongly backs the program.