White House denies senators papers on Bolton nomination

WASHINGTON -- White House officials declined yesterday to give senators the extra documents they are seeking regarding John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice to become ambassador to the United Nations, setting up a major standoff with Senate Democrats over the long-troubled nomination.

Democratic senators sidetracked a final vote on Bolton's nomination late Thursday, saying they will keep it from the Senate floor until the Bush administration hands over the information they have been seeking for two months. But a White House spokeswoman said yesterday that senators have all the documents they need to make a decision on Bolton, and accused Democrats of playing politics with a key diplomatic post.

''John Bolton enjoys majority [Senate] support, and it's a shame that Democrats are stopping a vote," said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman. ''This is about partisan politics, not documents."

Beset by allegations he bullied subordinates and holds the UN in contempt, Bolton's nomination has been controversial since Bush selected him in early March, and the White House's decision to hold fast on the documents will probably keep it in limbo even longer. Forty-one senators voted against closing off debate on Bolton -- enough to kill his nomination through indefinite delay, although some Democrats may be uncomfortable about mounting a filibuster amid Republican charges of obstructionism.

Senate Democrats want to see documents relating to Bolton's involvement in a report alleging that Syria possesses weapons of mass destruction. But the administration has said that such internal communications must be kept private to ensure candor within the administration's policy discussions.

Democrats also want 10 National Security Agency intelligence intercepts that Bolton requested, to determine whether Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, acted appropriately by asking for the names of Americans mentioned in the documents. The White House has allowed the chairman and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to review the intercepts, but only with the names of the 19 Americans mentioned in them blacked out.

Democrats are confident their party will maintain its insistence that the White House allow top-ranking senators to review the information Norm Kurz, a spokesman for Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Bush is putting politics above diplomacy by refusing to grant senators access to the information.

''If this administration was really serious about getting an ambassador in place at the UN to deal with reform or any other issue, they would have cooperated with the Senate long ago so that it could have all the information necessary to make a sound judgment on John Bolton's fitness to serve," Kurz said.

Senate majority leader Bill Frist has intervened with the White House on the Democrats' behalf, but he has no plans to pursue that further because he believes the Senate's file on Bolton already has enough information to decide on his nomination, according to a Frist spokeswoman. Frist can put Bolton's nomination on the agenda any time after June 7, when the Senate reconvenes after a weeklong holiday break.

If Democrats relent on their filibuster, Bolton appears to have enough votes to win confirmation since Republicans control 55 of the 100 Senate seats. But some Republicans are set to oppose him; Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio has urged colleagues to reject Bolton, calling him ill-suited for the diplomatic post, and freshman Senator John Thune of South Dakota also has said he intends to vote against Bolton.

Yesterday Thune said his opposition to Bolton stems from the fact that he believes Bush can find a better UN representative.