Efforts are underway to resolve “officially” whether John Bolton met with the Valerie Plame grand jury or its investigators. If he did before submitting his declaration statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his recess appointment will not occur.

MSNBC reports to TWN that its source on Bolton being interviewed by the Valerie Plame Wilson grand jury “is unimpeachable.” MSNBC is standing “firmly” by its story — and is shirking off the fact that other networks and major news organizations have been unable to confirm what MSNBC feels is a solid fact.

I swear that there are few stories that just keep giving the way the John Bolton nomination has. Robert George — a conservative — articulated well the reasons he thinks that the John Bolton nomination is dead, both by formal confirmation by the Senate as well as by recess appointment.

Robert George runs a cool blog, RaggedThots. George, who is a brilliant, hilarious guy, is a thoughtful conservative who worked for some time as speech-writer/wordsmith to House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He writes: John Bolton, R.I.P. John Bolton will never be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

I spent much of Friday speaking with people at MSNBC, including officials in the network’s communication and legal department, as well as with Hardball correspondent David Schuster.

TWN has just learned from a highly placed source — and in the right place to know — that John Bolton was a regular source for Judith Miller’s New York Times WMD and national security reports.

David Schuster of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews made a whopper revelation about grand jury testimony in the Valerie Plame-outing investigation: John Bolton has testified about the top secret document that Colin Powell had aboard Air Force One. TWN has confirmed with MSNBC that it it standing by its story.

CIA Director George Tenet was steamed when Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity was revealed — and his people put it to him to insist on a serious investigation. Tenet would not back off when others in the White House tried to evade at the time — and Tenet demanded that this investigation take place.

. . .and while they are at it, Ned Flanders could enter the local “John Bolton Look-Alike Contest.” That might get a few more entries than the Ned Flanders look-alike contest, although JB could go for it. Jon Stewart has got to pick this up. . .or Saturday Night Live. Or even Tim Russert.

Just an hour ago, I mentioned that Frank Gaffney made a wrong-headed linkage between the Gaza pull-out and the London bombings. Now, Gaffney is asserting that we are all at risk from the United Nations imposing a global tax on unsuspecting citizens everywhere.