What role did the Justice Department under attorney general John Ashcroft play in deterring the bush administration's policies on interrogation and intelligence gathering?

Answer 1

The Justice Department often clashed with the Bush administration's interrogation and intelligent gathering efforts, spearheaded by then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Famously, John Ashcroft, who headed the Department at the time, was pressured, while recovering from surgery in a hospital, to overrule a finding that a domestic surveillance program was illegal.