Yes, I know, Senator John Warner was supposed to introduce John Bolton at his first day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but was detained and later had his full introductory statement read into the record.
But rumor has it that Senator Warner, like John McCain, supports the battle between mostly Democratic Senators — and some Republicans ones — over the principle that the Senate has the right to request and receive documents from the administration other than those marked by “executive privilege.”
Senator Warner does not want to go public with his concerns because he is already getting extraordinary heat from the White House over Warner’s failure to support judicial ideological zealots that the White House has tried to shove down the gullet of the Senate.
Sources close to Senator Warner report that he is dismayed that during this time of conflict and engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, with American military personnel on the front lines, the White House is playing crude politics with the Defense Authorization bill.
That’s right. Remember that debate about armor? Well, now, it’s everything related to funding and managing the nation’s military operations.
The White House, in the view of some senior Republican Congressional officials, is that the White House is HOLDING BACK the defense authorization bill — that was supposed to be debated and voted on last week, before recess, but which is now languishing behind ongoing debates about controversial judges — and now apparently the Energy Authorization as well as Homeland Security Authorization bills.
Defense authorization is now being pushed back for no other apparent reason than to punish Senator Warner for thinking independently and preserving the independence and traditional mechanisms of the United States Senate.
TWN would value Senator Warner taking his leadership another step forward by reconsidering some of the comments that he made in favor of John Bolton on the first day of his hearings. Now that more evidence is in, Mr. Warner might like to adjust his comments.
All that said, it is a gross dereliction of duty and obligation by the White House towards our military servicemen and women to be blocking the bill that authorizes expenditures as punishment against Senator Warner.
The White House continues to delay and block release of all Bolton-related document requests. All of them.
Not only is the White House responsible for the delayed judgment on John Bolton — the White House is now arguing that cosmetic battles over John Bolton or a handful of judges matters MORE than funding our military in a time of conflict.
These battles over the judges, over Bolton, and now the defense authorization bill have gotten so out of hand and have been so mismanaged by White House personnel that the President better begin “removing from portfolio” some of those who are severely undermining his administration’s interests.
— Steve Clemons
