Ashcroft: I was not pushed out, my depature was ‘voluntary

[cal04]

Earlier this week, the Dallas Morning News released an interview with former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who stated that former Attorney General John Ashcroft was “pushed out” of the Bush Administration because he “refused to sign off on the warrantless wiretaps.” Iglesias said that “had Ashcroft done the wrong thing, the unconstitutional thing, and signed off on it, he’d probably still be the AG.”

During a hearing today before the House Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft denied Iglesias’ account, telling Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), “My departure was a decision of my own. It was a decision I made. It was voluntary.”

Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/17/ashcroft-i-was-not-pushed-out-my-depature-was-voluntary/

Ashcroft refused to answer further questions about his departure saying, “I’m not a book writer like so many other people are. I have written books, but they’re not very interesting,” a likely reference to Scott McClellan’s tell-all book about the administration.