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.’”
So Rather denied accusing Ashcroft of trying to "sully up" his reputation. As you can see, Danny Boy DID make that charge.