While I am planting sod out in front of my house today, some of you might enjoy reading the transcripts of Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff interviews regarding John Bolton.
They are fascinating. Some novelist out there is going to be able to draw some great material from these interviews.
They are:
Frederick Fleitz
Christian Westermann
Thomas Fingar
Neil Silver
While these interviews were given a while back, little of the real testimony has made it out to the public — and it’s just a good lesson in politics, policy, questions of professionalism, and the reality of rivalries. I think readers who want “more” should read the transcripts in full.
I find it amusing — and this is giving me the smile I need before I go lay down a truck full of sod — that Scott McLellan seems on the verge of offending some key Republican Senators with his assertion that only the Dems are worried about John Bolton.
That did not seem to be the case yesterday — nor in the last week.
I think that concerns about Bolton are an “American” issue — across the aisle — and the White House needs to ask how far it wants to take this battle.
Losing gracefully may be the best option for now, but with McLellan raising the stakes, it raises too the consequences for all involved.
— Steve Clemons
