AP: Bush to recess-appoint Bolton next week
Fri Jul 29, 2005 at 05:58:54 PM PDT
Link This based on "senior admin officials":
President Bush intends to announce next week that he is going around Congress to install embattled nominee John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, senior administration officials said Friday.
<snip>
Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the president had not made the announcement and Congress wasn't in recess yet, said Bush planned to exercise that authority before he leaves Washington on Tuesday for his ranch. The House recessed on Thursday and the Senate's break was scheduled to begin later Friday.
More...
So what now? Bolton has just been caught lying about the State Department's Inspector General interviewing him in connection with the joint investigation State and the CIA were conducting into the yellowcake propaganda lie and how it made its way into SOTU. Bolton failed to disclose the interview in his written submission during the confirmation process. He "submitted a questionnaire to the Senate in which he said he had not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years".
[UPDATE: Thx to Ugluk's Flea for the clarification!] Bush sends him in with a recess appointment, and Congress can start impeachment proceedings (against Bolton) immediately?
This week, critics raised a fresh concern, saying Bolton had neglected to tell Congress he had been interviewed in a government investigation into faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq.
The State Department said Thursday that Bolton was interviewed in 2003 by the department inspector general. The office was conducting a joint investigation with the CIA into allegations that Iraq attempted to buy nuclear materials from Niger. Bolton had earlier submitted a questionnaire to the Senate in which he had said he had not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years.
Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he would vote against Bolton -- if given the chance -- and would oppose a recess appointment if it is accurate that Bolton's form was originally incorrect. "Any intimidation of the facts, or suppression of information getting to the public which led us to the war, absolutely should preclude him from a recess appointment," said Chafee, of Rhode Island.
Bush has actually been put on notice about this:
Also Friday, 35 Democratic senators and one independent, Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, sent a letter to Bush urging against a recess appointment. "Sending someone to the United Nations who has not been confirmed by the United States Senate and now who has admitted to not being truthful on a document so important that it requires a sworn affidavit is going to set our efforts back in many ways," the letter said.
And of course, a recess appointment for Bolton isn't going to help Roberts:
On the other hand, an end run around the Senate confirmation process would certainly annoy senators -- particularly Democrats -- at a time when Bush's nomination of John Roberts to serve on the Supreme Court hangs in the balance. It also could hamper Bolton at the United Nations, by sending him there as a short-timer without the Senate's backing.
Here's to hoping they'll be able to act on their discontent!
Update [2005-7-29 23:6:4 by brainwave]: See also this diary which has more analysis (and analysis I agree with). And the original source for this story was apparently this CNN article that came out late last night.
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