[Mb-civic] State Dept admits Bolton gave inaccurate answers

Thu Jul 28 23:46:08 PDT 2005

 Reuters

 State Dept admits Bolton gave inaccurate answers

 By Vicki Allen and Saul Hudson
 Thu Jul 28,10:52 PM ET

The State Department reversed itself on Thursday night and acknowledged that
President Bush's U.N. ambassador nominee gave Congress inaccurate
information about an investigation he was involved in.

The acknowledgment came after the State Department had earlier insisted
nominee John Bolton's "answer was truthful" when he said he had not been
questioned or provided information to jury or government investigations in
the past five years.

"When Mr. Bolton completed his form during the Senate confirmation process
he did not recall being interviewed by the State Department inspector
general. Therefore his form as submitted was inaccurate in this regard and
he will correct the form," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Earlier, Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) of Delaware said he
had information Bolton was interviewed as part of a State Department-CIA
joint investigation on intelligence lapses that led to the Bush
administration's pre-Iraq war claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from
Niger.

Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that should
have been noted on the questionnaire, for which nominees swear out
affidavits stating the information is true and accurate.

"It now appears that Mr. Bolton's answers may not meet that standard," Biden
wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

McCormack also said Bolton was not interviewed in special prosecutor Patrick
Fitzgerald's investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA operative
Valerie Plame. Earlier in the day, reporters questioned McCormack on whether
Bolton testified before the federal grand jury investigating the case, as
MSNBC reported last week.

'TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE'

In a letter to Bush, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio,
voting record) said Bolton's admission was "too little, too late" and urged
Bush to withdraw the nomination.

"A recess appointment of a man who did not tell the truth to the (Senate
Foreign Relations) committee and only admitted the truth when he was caught
would send a horrible message," Boxer wrote.

"It seems unusual that Mr. Bolton would not remember his involvement in such
a serious matter. In my mind, this raises more questions that need to be
answered. I hope President Bush will not make the mistake of recess
appointing Mr. Bolton," Biden said in response to the admission that
Bolton's information was inaccurate.

The nomination of Bolton, a favorite of conservatives, has been held up by
accusations he tried to manipulate intelligence and intimidated intelligence
analysts to support his hawkish views in his position as the top U.S.
diplomat for arms control.

Lacking votes in the Senate to confirm Bolton, the White House has left open
the possibility it might appoint him while Congress takes its monthlong
summer recess that starts this weekend. A recess appointment would expire in
January 2007 when the new Congress convenes.

Rice, appearing on the PBS News Hour, said that "the president will make
that decision" on a recess appointment. "What we can't be is without
leadership at the United Nations. ... I'm spending an awful lot of time
these days preparing for the high-level meetings that are going to take
place in September" on U.N. reforms.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, confirmed the
Senate would not act on Bolton's nomination in the remaining hours before
the recess, "and therefore we will address it after the recess."

In procedural votes in May and June, Democrats denied Republicans the 60
votes needed from the 100-member Senate to close debate on Bolton and move
to a confirmation vote, which would require a simple majority.

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