Washington – In contrast to optimistic statements from the White House, a top Republican senator said Sunday that John Bolton’s prospects of winning Senate confirmation as ambassador to the United Nations were “too close to call.”
The doubts expressed by the Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who spoke on the CNN program “Late Edition,” came as Democratic critics sharpened attacks on Bolton as someone who sought to politicize intelligence judgments.
Four of 10 Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have now expressed concern about Bolton, on a panel where a single GOP vote against him could keep the nomination from reaching the Senate floor.
As new complaints emerged about Bolton and his harsh treatment of subordinates and colleagues, Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., issued a strong defense of Bolton, saying on the ABC News program “This Week” that the nominee had attracted Democratic criticism “because he’s a tough guy who supports the president’s policy.”
But leaders of the Democratic opposition made clear that Bolton’s nomination should be judged on whether he inappropriately sought to use or shape intelligence reports to bolster his political views.
The issue is “not whether he’s a nice guy or not,” Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on “This Week.” “This is about whether or not you try to alter intelligence data, alter what intelligence data says, or intimidate experts in the intelligence community to say something different.”
Biden and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., in a separate television appearance, drew renewed attention to Bolton’s repeated attempts in 2002 to seek the transfer of intelligence officials with whom he had clashed over his attempts to convey a hard-line view of Cuba and its possible attempts to acquire biological weapons.
Dodd and Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, also have asked the National Security Agency to allow the Senate’s Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees to review classified, unedited transcripts of intercepted communications mentioning U.S. officials that Bolton obtained as a State Department official.
The new requests are intended to allow the committees to determine whether Bolton had a legitimate reason for seeking to learn the names of U.S. officials mentioned in the intercepted communications.