Ashcroft Starts First Day of Work
JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: One man with a new job today is Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ashcroft survived stiff Democratic opposition in the Senate to win confirmation. CNN's Kelli Arena is at the Justice Department with more. Good morning, Kelli.</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jason. Well, the attorney general is expected here at the Justice Department to report for his first day of work at about 9:00 a.m. this morning. We're not expecting to hear any public statements from him. But rather he is scheduled to have a private meeting with staff members. As you mentioned, he was sworn in yesterday at the Supreme Court by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. That, also a private ceremony just for family. The ceremony will be reenacted for the public at a later date. The new attorney general had this to say after the ceremony. Oh, all right, OK. I actually thought we would have some sound to that bite but I don't have it. The first order of business for the attorney general will be to get some of the second- and third-level positions filled at Justice. We are expecting those announcements very soon. Right off the bat, we should hear about possibly solicitor general, that's the position that argues you -- cases before the Supreme Court. First name in the running for that job, a man by the name of Ted Olson, who you might remember argued for the Bush camp in Florida during the whole election debacle. Another position, the number-two position for deputy attorney general. First in the running there we are told is a man by the name of Larry Thompson. He is a former U.S. attorney from Georgia. He is African-American. And we are told that that might help to start -- to start some healing in the process here, because, as you know, there were lots of allegations thrown at Mr. Ashcroft, one of them that he might be a racist. So there's a lot of work to do, not only administratively here but also politically to try to mend some fences -- Jason.</s>CARROLL: Kelli, given that there was so much bitterness over the past five weeks, can you give us a sense as to what special challenges Ashcroft is going to be facing over the next few weeks?</s>ARENA: Well, number one I think is his credibility. Senator Leahy, who is the ranking Democrat on the Justice Committee, told Mr. Ashcroft that he needed to reach out to those Senators who voted against him, to make personal phone calls. And that, the attorney general did seem to be agreeable to that notion. But he does have some business in the pipeline as well. As you know, the Justice Department under the Clinton administration had a case against technology giant Microsoft. And that is continuing. And there are some other cases as well -- Jason.</s>CARROLL: OK, Kelli Arena, joining us live this morning from the Justice Department.