(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The Justice Department recently bought drapes to hide two mostly nude statues seen in the background during press conferences - but Attorney General John Ashcroft is denying he ordered the cover-up.

"It's not something he thought about one way or the other. He's got better things to do," said Ashcroft's spokeswoman, Barbara Comstock.

Comstock, who insisted Ashcroft is not offended by the statues, said the $8,000 draperies make for better TV pictures.

Comstock said an aide in Ashcroft's office ordered the draperies, which she described as more like curtains, because it was more cost-effective to buy them than to rent them, as the Justice Department had been doing.

Ashcroft, a conservative ex-senator from Missouri who leads daily prayer sessions at the Justice Department, didn't pay attention to the statues or have anything to do with buying the new drapes, Comstock said.

"The attorney general had no knowledge that this was being ordered," she said.