John Ashcroft

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), right, (with U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg).: Politicker photo 

Two New Jersey congressmen intend to announce tomorrow their plans for legislation to regulate how U.S. attorneys award federal monitoring contracts.

Their Washington, D.C. news conference comes as part of the fallout from U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s having awarded his former boss, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a federal monitoring contract in which Ashcroft could make up to $52 million.

As part of their investigation, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8) and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) requested full disclosure of 85 deferred and non-prosecution agreements and lists of corporate monitors selected in 41 agreements.

Sunday at 10:30 a.m., catch Reporters Roundtable, hosted by Michael Aron and featuring The Bergen Record’s Charles Stile, NJN’s Jim Hooker, Mark DiOnno from the Star-Ledger and PolitickerNJ.com’s Matt Friedman.  The group will discuss New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s fall from grace, the U.S. Senate race, the budget and John Ashcroft’s recent testimony. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that the Justice Department’s regarding the hiring of monitors federal oversight contracts are encouraging, but he doesn’t think they go far enough.

“The Department's new policies regarding the selection and use of monitors is an overdue step to make sure that lucrative contracts are not funneled to insiders, including former political office-holders and appointees,” he said in a statement.

John Ashcroft displays copies of The Record to defend Chris Christie's corruption-busting record: Getty Images Photo
WASHINGTON -- In a combative exchange with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), former Attorney General John Ashcroft jumped to U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s defense.

After Sanchez asked whether the selection process complied with the type of guidelines the Justice Department laid out yesterday, Ashcroft said that she was implying that Christie was a “law violator.”

“I really don’t believe that Mr. Christie is a law violator. His record as a prosecutor is an outstanding record,” Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft then held up two copies of Bergen Record headlines about Christie’s public corruption convictions and insinuated that there were partisan motivations behind today’s hearing.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Justice Department news conference in 2003
WASHINGTON - Testifying at today, former Attorney General John Ashcroft mainly explained why he’s qualified to be a federal monitor, but had some combative words for his critics.

Ashcroft compared the type of criticism he’s faced for being assigned a lucrative federal monitor contract by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to the political attacks he faced during his term as Attorney General. He did not single out any of his critics by name.

“As you may or may not recall there were many people who attacked me in the way that I chose to defend America from terrorists. Those assaults did not shake my commitment to protecting American lives from terrorism attacks,” he said. “Similarly, a monitor should be immune to pressure and should not allow attacks from whatever sources that contaminate the cause of justice. I will not allow external pressures to compromise my responsibilities as a monitor.”

WASHINGTON -- If the Justice Department hoped to allay Democrats’ concerns about deferred prosecution agreements by changing their guidelines yesterday, they weren’t successful.

At hearings today that were first for called by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Democrats said they weren’t satisfied with the proposed rule changes that would take some power out of the hands of U.S. Attorneys in deciding who gets assigned monitoring contracts.

Pascrell called for hearings after it was reported that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie gave an oversight contract to former Attorney General John Ashcroft worth $28-52 million.

Just one day before former Attorney General John Ashcroft was set to testify in Congress about the federal oversight contract he was given by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, the Justice Department banned federal prosecutors from selecting corporate monitors, the Star-Ledger reports.

New Jersey Democratic Representatives Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell will testify on Tuesday at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law’s hearing on deferred prosecution agreements.

Pascrell had requested the hearings in November, after it was reported that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie assigned his former boss, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, to an a federal oversight contract with a medical implant device company worth between $27 and $52 million.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft will testify at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, March 11, regarding a multi-million dollar federal monitoring contract he received after he left the Bush Administration.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will meet on Tuesday afternoon to consider whether to subpoena former Attorney General John Ashcroft regarding a contract he was given by New Jersey U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, according to a press release just issued by the subcommittee’s chair.