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White House Believes Bolton Will Be Confirmed
U.S. President George W. Bush and fellow Republicans continue to express support for embattled U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton and are confident he will be confirmed, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, May 13). “The president continues to have confidence in John. He believes he’s the right person for the job,” national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Fox News Sunday. “We’re pleased he’s going to get a vote and we’re confident that the Senate at the end of the day will agree with the president and John Bolton will be confirmed.” Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Democrats have yet to establish a strategy for opposing the nomination. “I’m strongly opposed to John Bolton,” Kennedy said. “We need a diplomat at the United Nations, not a bully” (Associated Press/ABC News, May 15). White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he hoped Democrats would not make the upcoming Senate floor vote on Bolton a political issue. A spokesman for Senate Democratic minority leader Harry Reid (Nev.) did not rule out a filibuster against the nomination, the New York Times reported. A State Department spokesman said no additional documents concerning Bolton would be provided to the Senate prior to the floor vote (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, May 14). The National Security Agency briefed only the top two senators on the Senate intelligence committee on Bolton’s requests for the identities of U.S. citizens named in communications intercepted by the agency, the Washington Post reported Saturday. Intelligence committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), told Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that nothing relevant to the nomination was contained in the briefing. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) agreed that the issue was probably not relevant to Bolton’s nomination. “I don’t think there’s probably anything there, based on my going to present administration officials that I respect, and past administration officials,” Biden said, but he still expressed frustration that he has not been allowed to see the relevant documents (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, May 14).
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