WASHINGTON, April 20: The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee balked at confirming John Bolton’s nomination as ambassador to the United Nations after new charges that he is a “serial bully” with subordinates. The allegations, raised on Tuesday evening by Democrats on the Republican-dominated committee, come from a US government employee who says Mr Bolton bullied her to the point of harassment when he was in private business.
She charged Mr Bolton chased her through the halls of a Russian hotel, threw things at her and verbally threatened her about business deals.
“In your heart you know this guy’s not right for the UN,” Democratic Senator Joe Biden told his Republican colleagues on the committee.
They had been leaning towards supporting US President George W. Bush’s choice despite other complaints about Mr Bolton’s conduct and his past anti-UN diatribes.
“Follow your heart, not your head, cause your head will tell you not to screw around with the president’s nominee,” Sen Biden pleaded.
After two hours of rancorous debate and repeated attempts by the Republican chair to call a vote, Ohio Republican George Voinovich spoke up.
“I’ve heard enough today that I don’t feel comfortable voting for Mr Bolton,” he said.
“The passion on the other side on this, I don’t think is political,” Sen Voinovich said. “I think they raised some legitimate issues. I think we ought to find out what they are, I think we ought to get the information, get a chance to have the allegations rebutted.”
Several Republicans on the committee echoed that sentiment, delaying the vote.
Mr Bolton, who is currently the top arms control official in the US State Department, may now be called to testify again about his personal behaviour with colleagues.
The postponement of a Senate committee vote on Mr Bolton is a political defeat for President Bush at least in the short term and opened the possibility that the nomination could fall.
The White House continued to express full support for the nomination, urging both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to confirm him.
Both Democrats and Republicans had predicted earlier the GOP-controlled committee would vote along party lines to recommend Mr Bolton for the job.
“The dynamic has changed,” said Sen Lincoln Chafee, a Republican from Rhodes Island. “A lot of reservations surfaced today. It’s a new day.”
The committee set no new date for a vote, but a delay of at least two weeks seems likely. Democrats plan to use the time to investigate new allegations that Mr Bolton abused his authority and mistreated subordinates, and to look into Mr Bolton’s unusual request for the names of other US officials whose communications were secretly picked up by a US spy agency.
At the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan called the allegations of abusive behaviour unfounded, and said President Bush stood by the nomination unequivocally.
“John Bolton is exactly the person we need at the United Nations at this time,” Mr McClellan said.