Top Dem May Hold Up Bolton Vote

Sen. Joe Biden Wants More Info On Controversial U.N. Nominee

(AP)  The senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee indicated Thursday that he might try delaying a vote on John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations if the State Department does not provide additional documents about the embattled nominee.

The committee chairman, in a letter last week to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, did not endorse the request by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said parts of Biden's request were "extremely broad" or of "marginal relevance."

Biden told Rice he wants the documents and hinted he might try to delay the committee's scheduled confirmation vote on May 12 if he does not get them.

"My Democratic colleagues and I would consider the failure to produce the requested documents in a timely manner a lack of cooperation," according to the letter, which was made available to The Associated Press.

Among the documents requested are an accounting of instances in which Bolton sought names and details of U.S. officials whose communications were intercepted by the National Security Agency.

Also, Biden asked for records dealing with Bolton's assertions that Cuba and Sudan were bent on developing weapons of mass destruction and on China's proliferation of weapons technology. Bolton has been the State Department's arms control chief.

Biden sent an initial request to Rice for the documents last Friday.

"I hope and expect that the department will respond in full by the end of this week and in any event reasonably in advance of the committee's meeting to consider the nomination scheduled for May 12," Biden wrote in his second letter Thursday.

The committee planned to vote on Bolton on April 19, but unexpectedly postponed it after Democrats — joined by several Republicans — said they wanted more time to study allegations against him.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the State Department "has been working to make sure that the questions are responded to, and they've been very responsive to the committee."

"There's a difference between responding to legitimate concerns and just people trying to go down the road of a fishing expedition," McClellan said.