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Here is that section again including the section I accidentally deleted by screwing up with my bold highlighting. Please read this since it sums up Rather's lie perfectly:

King recounted: “It all starts with the 'I-man.’ On Imus last month, you said just before September 11th, John Ashcroft started to fly private planes, that would indicate that somebody somewhere was pretty worried. Why wasn't it shared with the public? The Justice Department denounced it as irresponsible. Ashcroft came on this show last week and said the reason he was asked to fly private was there were some personal attacks against him, fears that they had, and so they asked him to fly private. And then you went back on and said 'maybe it would be better for him to spend a little less time trying to sully up my reputation and cover his own backside.’”
Rather falsely asserted: “I did not say that about him, that some of his people had attempted to do that.”

In fact, this is what Rather stated on the May 24 Imus in the Morning: “It probably would be better for him to spend a little less time trying to, you know, sully up my reputation in some way, cover his own backside, and a little more time in let’s get this thing straight.”

The “him” was quite clearly John Ashcroft.