Did Ashcroft use air marshalls when he flew commercial pre 9/11?

[FullCountNotRecount]

Did the 9/11 comission ask him that? Did MM's movie address this? I know it was thought that Ashcroft ONLY took private flights after July but was later disproven. I never heard about this other part of the equation.

[ck4829]

1. How was that disproven?

I thought it was verified that Ashcroft only took private flights before 9/11?

[FullCountNotRecount]

2. 9/11 commission disproved it

if that is correct grammar.

[democraticinsurgent]

3. all but 2 flights as i recall

i think MM dropped this from F9-11 because it was discovered that Ashcroft flew on commercial airliners twice during this time. However, most of his travel was private due to "threat".

[FullCountNotRecount]

4. Finding out if he had personal Air marshalls when the rest of US didn't

certainly would have been interesting to know.

[Bridget Burke]

5. It was announced that he was flying chartered jets exclusively.

Back in July 2001--because of FBI warnings.

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/07/26/national/main303601.shtml

Apparently he was later able to prove that he did fly commercial, as well. Not sure of the timeframe, though. After 9/11, when he knew that threat was over?

Edited to add: July 2001 was also when pilots were forbidden to arm themselves. This permission dated from the days of "traditional" hijacking & had apparently not been used much. Just another instance of odd timing.