John Bolton, during a 2005 Senate confirmation process, was accused by a female government contractor of harassing ‘her relentlessly,’ chasing her around a hotel, criticizing her weight and ‘hinting’ she was a lesbian.
Melody Townsel described his behavior in a 2005 letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was under consideration for the UN Ambassador position.
‘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,’ she wrote.
‘John Bolton hounded me in such an appalling way that I eventually retreated to my hotel room and stayed there. Mr. Bolton, of course, then routinely visited me there to pound on the door and shout threats,’ she added.
‘He made unconscionable comments about my weight, my wardrobe and, with a couple of team leaders, my sexuality, hinting that I was a lesbian (for the record, I’m not),’ she noted.
Melody Townsel described how, in 1994, John Bolton harassed her, chased her around a hotel and criticized her weight
John Bolton has denied her allegations
The two interacted in in 1994, when Townsel was working on a project in the post-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, and Bolton was hired by her firm as legal counsel. She was flown from Kyrgyzstan to Moscow to give a briefing on the project and the incident in question took place at the Aerostar Hotel in Moscow.
At the time of incident, Bolton worked in the private sector. He has denied Townsel’s allegations and his attorney did not respond to Yahoo! News’ request for comment.
In 2005, Bolton was under consideration by then-President George W. Bush for the U.N. Ambassador position. Bush got him in the job via a recess appointment – which allowed him to by pass the confirmation process. But a recess appointment made his time in the job temporary and Bolton withdrew from the position before he went before the Senate for formal confirmation.
Townsel did not mince words about Bolton in her letter.
‘As a maligned whistleblower, I’ve learned firsthand the lengths Mr. Bolton will go to accomplish any goal he sets for himself. Truth flew out the window. Decency flew out the window. In his bid to smear me and promote the interests of his client, he went straight for the low road and stayed there,’ she wrote.
‘John Bolton put me through hell — and he did everything he could to intimidate, malign and threaten not just me, but anybody unwilling to go along with his version of events. His behavior back in 1994 wasn’t just unforgivable, it was pathological,’ she noted.
‘I cannot believe that this is a man being seriously considered for any diplomatic position, let alone such a critical posting to the UN,’ she added.
In the 2005 confirmation process, other officials had harsh words for Bolton.
Former State Department official Carl W. Ford Jr. called Bolton ‘a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy’ and ‘a serial bully.’
Colin Powell told some Republican senators that Bolton ‘had problems’ with anyone who disagreed with him.
Bolton left the Bush administration under a cloud.
‘Let me just say from the outset that I don’t consider Bolton credible,’ the outgoing President Bush said in 2008.
John Bolton in 2006 when he was serving as UN Ambassador
Then-President George W. Bush appointed Bolton to the position
Bolton has been remarkably consistent in how he’s handled disagreements, Yahoo! News noted, regardless of whether those disagreements are with a staffer or the president.
President Trump’s former National Security Adviser is back in the news after The New York Times revealed his forth coming memoir ‘The Room Where It Happened’ claimed the president said U.S. aid to Ukraine was being held up until that country agreed to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
Trump has denied that charge.
But the allegation was enough to reopen talk in the Senate about calling additional witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned Tuesday he doesn’t have the votes to block additional witnesses.
Democrats need four Republicans to vote with them to get witnesses. Bolton has said he will comply with a subpoena and some GOP senators have expressed an interest in hearing from him.