CNN Crossfire - Transcript
CNN Crossfire - Transcript
4/20/2005
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BEGALA: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE.
The Bolton nomination, that would be John Bolton, not Michael, to be America's ambassador to the United Nations has stirred ways on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided to postpone a vote on the nomination when one Republican senator from Ohio, George Voinovich, suggested he need more time to think it through.
Joining us now to give us the Republican perspective on the Bolton nomination is Congressman Mike Pence. He is on the House International Relations Committee and on the subcommittee that oversees the U.N. He knows his stuff on this issue. Congressman Pence good to see you again.
REP. MIKE PENCE, ® INDIANA: Thank you, Paul. Good to be back.
BEGALA: One of the new allegations that has been risen comes from a woman from Dallas by the name of Melody Townsel. Ms. Townsel in fact works for Charlie Black, a great friend of this program, a conservative Republican political consultant. She alleges that Mr. Bolton abused her. That she was on a USAID project, trying to further President Bush's-well, America's foreign policy-when Mr. Bolton representing a client she was having a dispute with-well, here's her letter. Here is her words:
"Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and generally behaving like a madman. I eventually retreated to my hotel room and stayed there. Mr. Bolton then routinely visited me to pound on my door and shout threats."
She went on to say that she was-that he said that she was about to be indicted for fraud, which was not true. Which is a terrible form of slander. Now she hasn't been put under oath. Don't you think it was right for the Senate to slow down, stop, perhaps put this woman under oath and hear from Mr. Bolton in case he's being smeared? PENCE: Well, I think first and foremost, Paul, it's right that every senator, Republicans and Democrats have the opportunity to get their questions answered. And my understanding is that Senator Voinovich simply was not able to be at some of the early hearings. And while I'm disappointed that we will have the service that John Bolton can provide as ambassador to the United Nations delayed, I think it was altogether fitting that ambassador-excuse me, Chairman Senator Lugar from my own state of Indiana has elected to accommodate the desires of his colleagues to have questions answered.
But in the end, I believe the president's choice for ambassador to the United Nations will be recommended by the committee and he should well be confirmed by the United States Senate.
BEGALA: Counsel, let me ask you about this question of character. I have to say, in full disclosure, I supported Bolton's nomination unlike most Democrats, because I believe the president should have his person in there. And I don't mind a blow hard or a bomb thrower-metaphorically speaking-at the U.N. My goodness, Madeleine Albright and Dick Holbrooke in the Clinton administration were controversial and strong, not very diplomatic, actually, in their speaking. And I think they did a great job.
But my deference to the president's choice here runs out yesterday, perhaps like others, when I started hearing these tales of abuse, of character defects, of him at the Justice Department threatening to fire a woman who wanted to extend her maternity leave. Now, that's not very pro-family and that's not very good values, is it?
PENCE: Well, I am not as familiar with those allegations as you are. And I can tell you that as you know here on Capitol Hill things get pretty rough, elbows get pretty sharp and sometimes baseless accusations get made. All the more reason why I think Chairman Lugar was right to delay the vote and have his colleagues have the opportunity to ask the questions of Mr. Bolton and others that they think is relevant. But I do believe at the end of the day the Senate should confirm Undersecretary John Bolton as our new ambassador to the U.N.
As you know, Paul, I'm on a new subcommittee in the House of Representatives that was organized by Chairman Henry Hyde to provide oversight at the United Nations. A $10 billion oil-for-food scandal. This is an institution that is in need of reform. And I believe the president's choice for our ambassador to the United Nations is just the man to bring a frank but constructive message of reform to the U.N.
WATKINS: Congressman, obviously these allegations have to do with his management style and some disagreements over the way he manages some of the people who have worked for him. Shouldn't we be more concerned about the policies he will enact, the way he would go about reforming the United Nations and the role he sees for the United Nations as the ambassador to the U.N.?
PENCE: Joe, I-look, I know you very well. And I know you would take seriously any serious accusations of inappropriate behavior in the workplace. But there is a sense many of us have that these accusations about a brusque personality, about being a quick-tempered person, are a bit of a sidebar.
John Bolton is man who served two successive Bush administrations, this one as the under secretary for nonproliferation, but the prior Bush administration he was that undersecretary, as you know, to oversee international organizations.
He is a man who knows the United Nations. He is ready to bring a blunt but constructive voice for the United States into that well.
BEGALA: Congressman Mike Pence thank you very much. A busy day.
By the way, walking, talking demonstration you can be quite conservative and awfully civil and decent. Congressman Mike Pence thank you very much for joining us in the CROSSFIRE. Good of you to come over.
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