Ashcroft: Administration Fostered Disrespect for Police

An ambush killing of two Iowa police officers Wednesday is the latest in a string of attacks on police in the last several months. Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft weighed in on how politics plays a role in government response to these events, and concerns the Department of Justice has become too political.

“When you have a situation where ordinary folks don’t believe in the protection afforded by the justice community and the people at the top believe they can’t be prosecuted by the justice community there’s a crisis in America as it relates to the respect for law enforcement and justice generally,” Ashcroft told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.

Ashcroft put much of the blame for this crisis on the Obama Administration.

“There have been times when this administration has literally fostered a sort of disrespect for much of the law enforcement community and those chickens unfortunately have come home to roost,” he said.

The former U.S. AG specifically addressed the police shootings in Iowa, saying it doesn’t appear to be a situation in which the officers were conducting an investigation , but rather were ambushed. Ashcroft said he anticipates some kind of comment from the Justice Department expressing support for security and law-enforcement officials.

Still, he recognized the events that have become all-too common this year, and the actions elected officials in Washington weight, are a subject of political polarization.

“If the reports of The Wall Street Journal during the last week signaling that the Justice Department has restrained the FBI in its ability to investigate,” Ashcroft said. ”That would be extremely disappointing and it would be literally an embarrassment to the department.”