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Morning News

The Bush Presidency: Attorney General Ashcroft Has Many Tasks Before Him

Aired February 2, 2001 - 10:07 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: While Mr. Bush talks about bipartisanship, deep party differences were very much apparent during the confirmation process for new Attorney General John Ashcroft. This is Mr. Ashcroft's first day on the job as the nation's top lawyer.

And our justice correspondent Kelli Arena is with us now to tell us a little bit more about that.

Kelli, good morning again.

Good morning to you.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John Ashcroft did arrive here at the Justice Department at about 9:00 this morning. We're told that he'll meet privately with some staffers -- no public statements today -- and then he'll have a meeting at 3:00 with various department heads and another meeting 5:00 with Eric Holder, the former acting U.S. attorney general.

As you said, the confirmation process was not a smooth one for this attorney general, and Democrats will be keeping a close eye on just about every move this Justice Department makes, including the very first moves, which will be the nomination -- the nominating of various department heads, most notably the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights.

There are also some issues that are very much in the pipeline for John Ashcroft as he takes on his new job, most notably there have been some airline mergers as we've reported here on CNN: U.S. Air and United looking to merge, American looking to buy TWA. Justice does have oversight over mergers. So we will get a very clear indication early on of this Justice Department's antitrust tone.

We also have the ongoing case against Microsoft. That case is before an appeal's court right now. We are waiting to see what justice -- what judge's strategy becomes in that case.

We have the case -- lawsuit against tobacco companies, as the government was trying to get back some money that it had spent on smoking-related illnesses.

We also have the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the first federally executed prisoner since the 1960. If that does happen, that will happen on May 16th. We'll get a very clear voice from Justice because Justice does oversee that execution.

So right off the bat, Stephen, John Ashcroft is facing some very difficult, real issues. He's picking up some business from the Clinton administration. And as I said, the Democrats will be keeping a very watchful eye. He's got a lot of mending of fences to do in his early days -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Even those antitrust issues that you mentioned, Kelli, fraught this time with controversy, especially the airline merger.

ARENA: That's right. You know, as you know, some consumer rights groups are very worried about the impact on pricing that that will have. The Justice Department under Janet Reno was known for a very aggressive antitrust fund. It was known as one of the darling departments -- many resources, many talented lawyers in that department.

So what we will see: what strategy give this Justice has for antitrust. We are told, though, that the expectation won't be -- that we won't see any radically different moves or strategies on things that are already in the pipeline. It's what's coming up in the future that will be a better indication, although we can see a shift, notably with Microsoft, for example: Will this Justice Department perhaps try to reach more aggressively for a settlement with the company, depending on what the appeals court rules.

So you're right: I mean, these are issues very near and dear to the heart of every American, not just here in Washington.

FRAZIER: Kelli Arena, reporting from the Justice Department -- Kelli, thank you.

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