Another Letter from Biden

While the question of whether Bolton was interviewed by the Fitzgerald grand jury remains unanswered, Senator Biden has dispatched another letter to Secretary Rice responding to the questions asked on this blog and others about whether Bolton was interviewed in any earlier inspector general investigations.

Here is the text of Biden's letter, as provided by Raw Story. A scan of the letter is also available there.

"July 28, 2005

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madam Secretary:

It has just come to my attention that then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton was interviewed on July 18, 2003 by the State Department Office of the Inspector General in connection with a joint State Department/CIA IG investigation related to the alleged Iraqi attempts to procure uranium from Niger. This information would appear to be inconsistent with information that Mr. Bolton provided to the Committee on Foreign Relations during the Committee's consideration of his pending nomination to be Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

The Committee on Foreign Relations expects all nominees to provide to it accurate and timely information. Indeed, in submitting the Committee's questionnaire, all nominees are required to swear out an affidavit stating that the information provided is "true and accurate." It now appears that Mr. Bolton's answers may not meet that standard. I write, therefore, to request that you review this matter to determine whether incomplete or inaccurate information was provided by Mr. Bolton.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Ranking Minority Member"

So far as I know, this is the first time that Bolton's meeting with the State Department's IG has been made public (if I'm wrong about that, my apologies). It's going to be awfully hard for Bolton to loophole his way out of this one, if Biden's information is accurate.

[Update: Tip to Stygius for letting me know the AP story is up about today's Bolton developments. Reuters has an updated story here. -- 7:37 p.m.]