Reply #18: Blow to Bush as Bolton Panel Widens Its Inquiry [View All]

[chlamor]

Blow to Bush as Bolton panel widens its inquiry

Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday April 28, 2005
The Guardian

The Senate committee assessing John Bolton's nomination as the next US ambassador to the UN yesterday widened its inquiry to interview several more potentially hostile witnesses, in a fresh blow to the White House.

Only months after re-election, George Bush's authority is being challenged on several fronts. The president has risked his prestige with his adamant support for Mr Bolton, even after some Republicans on the foreign relations committee voiced doubts about his temperament.

According to an official on the committee, most of the two dozen officials and former officials the senators plan to interview in the next 10 days are thought to have clashed with him, or to have witnessed some of the heated rows for which he earned a reputation in his former job at the state department. "Most of them are witnesses to some of the controversies we've been talking about," the official said.

President Bush is taking a similar risk in demonstrating Oval Office backing for an embattled congressional leader, Tom DeLay, accompanying him to a public event on board Air Force One at a time Mr DeLay, a fellow Texas conservative, is facing charges of ethics violations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1471960,00.html