Democrats Blast, Republicans Defend Bolton

Partisan battles over U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton continued in a report submitted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of a full Senate vote on the appointment, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 16).

Democrats charged in a 53-page statement that Bolton attempted to punish intelligence analysts with views different than his own, manipulated intelligence, treated subordinates improperly and misled a Senate committee. 

The Democratic documents states that Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, asked then-CIA Director George Tenet to punish an analyst who disagreed with Bolton on Cuba’s WMD capabilities. Democrats accuse Bolton of misleading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when asked about the matter during his confirmation hearing.

Committee Republicans, on the other hand, filed a seven-page report. They argued that the Democrats’ charges are overblown and that accusations that Bolton manipulated intelligence remain unproven.

“The end result of all this is that Secretary Bolton emerged looking better than when it began,” Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said in the report. He said Bolton’s “blunt style … sometimes rubbed people the wrong way.”

The State Department also defended Bolton, saying the Democratic report offered no new evidence, AP reported.

“The committee’s already reviewed this issue extensively,” said department spokesman Tom Casey. “This is a minority interpretation of events, and we completely reject it.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) who has a hold placed on Bolton’s nomination pending the arrival of more information from the State Department, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking for records connected to Matthew Freedman, a private adviser to Bolton.

Freedman would not answer committee questions, and the State Department said there is no need to turn over documents relating to Freedman’s consulting work (Anne Gearan and Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press/Washington Post, May 19).

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