The hospital did not issue a promised formal medical update, but Ashcroft's chief spokesman Mark Corallo said the nation's top legal officer was making progress.

CNN: Ashcroft remains in intensive care

"You can always find a critic, but not one single person involved in this investigation has expressed either formally or informally the need for recusal or the appointment of a special prosecutor, " said Mark Corallo, Ashcroft's chief spokesman.

CNN: Ashcroft cites progress in CIA leak probe