WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft has come under criticism for his handling of the probe into the leak of a CIA agent's name, a report said Thursday.
The private criticism by several senior criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department and top FBI officials is over Ashcroft failing to recuse himself or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak, the New York Times said.
The inquiry is nearing the critical stage where Ashcroft must decide whether to convene a grand jury, which could compel White House officials to testify.
The officials said they feared Ashcroft, with a long career in Republican partisan politics, could not credibly lead a criminal investigation that centered on the aides to a Republican president.
Democrats have criticized each step of the inquiry as tainted by Ashcroft's relationship with the White House.
The investigation is trying to determine who told the syndicated columnist Robert Novak, as he wrote in July, that Valerie Plame, the wife of a former ambassador, Joseph Wilson IV, was a CIA employee. Wilson is a critic of the administration's Iraq policies.
