Valerie Plame

Valerie Elise Plame Wilson (née Plame, August 13, 1963), is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of the Washington Post.

In the aftermath of the scandal, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was identified as one source of the information. Libby was subsequently convicted of lying to investigators. After a failed appeal, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence and in 2018, President Donald Trump pardoned him. No one was formally charged with leaking the information.

In collaboration with a ghostwriter, Plame wrote a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA. She has subsequently written and published at least two spy novels. A 2010 biographical feature film, Fair Game, was produced based on memoirs by her and her husband.

In May 2019, Plame announced her intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district
Early life and education
Valerie Elise Plame was born on August 13, 1963, on Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Diane (née McClintock) and Samuel Plame III.[3][4] Plame's paternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of a rabbi who emigrated from Ukraine; the original family surname was "Plamevotski".[5] The rest of Plame's family was Protestant (the religion in which Plame was raised); she was unaware, until she was an adult, that her grandfather was Jewish.[5]

She graduated in 1981 from Lower Moreland High School, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania,[6][7] and in 1985 from Pennsylvania State University, with a B.A. in advertising.[8] While attending Penn State, she joined Pi Beta Phi sorority[9] and worked for the business division of the Daily Collegian student newspaper.[8][10]

Personal life
After graduating from Penn State in 1985, Plame married Todd Sesler; the marriage ended in divorce in 1989.[8] In 1997, while working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Plame met former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson.[11][7][12] They were married on April 3, 1998.[13] At the time they met, Wilson relates in his memoir, he was separated from his second wife Jacqueline. They divorced after 12 years of marriage so that he could marry Plame.[11] Wilson and Plame divorced in 2017.[14]

Prior to the disclosure of her CIA job, the family lived in The Palisades, Washington, D.C..[8] After she resigned from the CIA following the disclosure of her CIA position, in January 2006, the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico,[15][16] where Plame serves as a consultant to the Santa Fe Institute. In a 2011 interview, Plame said she and Wilson had received threats while living in the D.C. metro area, and that the New Mexico location "tamps down the whole swirl."[17]

Plame endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election
After graduating from college, moving to Washington, D.C., and marrying Sesler, Plame worked at a clothing store while awaiting results of her application to the CIA.[8] She was accepted into the 1985–86 CIA officer training class.[16] Although the CIA will not publicly release the specific dates of Plame's employment from 1985 to 2002, due to security concerns,[16][19] Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald affirmed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1, 2002, forward" and that "her association with the CIA was classified at that time through July 2003.[20] Details about Plame's professional career are still classified, but it is documented that she worked for the CIA in a non-official cover capacity relating to counter-proliferation.[21][16][22][23][24]

Plame served the CIA at times as a non-official cover (or NOC), operating in Athens and Brussels.[25] While using her own name, "Valerie Plame", her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively.[26][27][28] Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens and then later as an energy analyst for the private company (founded in 1994) "Brewster Jennings & Associates," which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company for certain investigations.[29] However, others have stated that she did not have covert status, and worked at the CIA as an analyst.[30]

A former senior diplomat in Athens remembered Plame in her dual role and also recalled that she served as one of the "control officers" coordinating the visit of President George H. W. Bush to Greece and Turkey in July 1991.[31] After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the CIA sent her first to the London School of Economics and then the College of Europe, in Bruges, for Master's degrees. After earning the second degree, she stayed on in Brussels, where she began her next assignment under cover as an "energy consultant" for Brewster-Jennings.[8] Beginning in 1997, Plame's primary assignment was shifted to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.[32]

During this time, part of her work concerned the determination of the use of aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq.[33] CIA analysts prior to the Iraq invasion were quoted by the White House as believing that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons and that these aluminum tubes could be used in a centrifuge for nuclear enrichment.[34][35] David Corn and Michael Isikoff argued that the undercover work being done by Plame and her CIA colleagues in the Directorate of Central Intelligence Nonproliferation Center strongly contradicted such a claim
"Plamegate"
Main articles: Plame affair, Plame affair grand jury investigation, and Plame affair criminal investigation
On July 14, 2003, Robert Novak, journalist for The Washington Post, using information obtained from Richard Armitage, and Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, effectively ended Valerie Plame's career with the CIA (from which she later resigned in December 2005) by revealing in his column her identity as a CIA operative.[36][37] Legal documents published in the course of the CIA leak grand jury investigation, United States v. Libby, and Congressional investigations, established her classified employment as a covert officer for the CIA at the time when Novak's column was published in July 2003.[36][38][39]

In his press conference of October 28, 2005, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald explained in considerable detail the necessity of secrecy about his grand jury investigation that began in the fall of 2003 — "when it was clear that Valerie Wilson's cover had been blown" — and the background and consequences of the indictment of then high-ranking Bush Administration official Scooter Libby as it pertained to her.[20]

Fitzgerald's subsequent replies to reporters' questions shed further light on the parameters of the leak investigation and what, as its lead prosecutor, bound by the rules of grand jury secrecy, he could and could not reveal legally at the time.[20] Official court documents released later, on April 5, 2006, reveal that Libby testified that "he was specifically authorized in advance" of his meeting with Judith Miller, reporter for The New York Times, to disclose the "key judgments" of the October 2002 classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). According to Libby's testimony, "the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE [to Judith Miller]."[40] According to his testimony, the information that Libby was authorized to disclose to Miller "was intended to rebut the allegations of an administration critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson." A couple of days after Libby's meeting with Miller, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters, "We don't want to try to get into kind of selective declassification" of the NIE, adding, "We're looking at what can be made available."[41] A "sanitized version" of the NIE in question was officially declassified on July 18, 2003, ten days after Libby's contact with Miller, and was presented at a White House background briefing on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.[42] The NIE contains no references to Valerie Plame or her CIA status, but the Special Counsel has suggested that White House actions were part of "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson."[43] President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever had outed Plame.[41]

A court filing by Libby's defense team argued that Plame was not foremost in the minds of administration officials as they sought to rebut charges – made by her husband – that the White House manipulated intelligence to make a case for invasion. The filing indicated that Libby's lawyers did not intend to say that he was told to reveal Plame's identity.[44] The court filing also stated that "Mr. Libby plans to demonstrate that the indictment is wrong when it suggests that he and other government officials viewed Ms. Wilson's role in sending her husband to Africa as important," indicating that Libby's lawyers planned to call Karl Rove to the stand. Fitzgerald ultimately decided against pressing charges against Rove.[45]

The five-count indictment of Libby included perjury (two counts), obstruction of justice (one count), and making false statements to federal investigators (two counts). There was, however, no count for disclosing classified information, i.e., Plame's status as a CIA operative.

Libby trial
Main article: United States v. Libby
See also: Joseph C. Wilson § Reactions to the Libby trial and commutation
On March 6, 2007, Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one count of making false statements. He was not charged for revealing Plame's CIA status. His sentence included a $250,000 fine, 30 months in prison and two years of probation. On July 2, 2007, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence, removing the jail term but leaving in place the fine and probation, calling the sentence "excessive."[46][47] In a subsequent press conference, on July 12, 2007, Bush noted, "...the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision."[48] The Wilsons responded to the commutation in statements posted by their legal counsel, Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and on their own legal support website. President Donald Trump pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018.[49]

Wilson v. Cheney
Main article: Wilson v. Libby
On July 13, 2006, Joseph and Valerie Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Rove, Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other unnamed senior White House officials (to whom they later added Richard Armitage)[50] for their alleged role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status.[51] Judge John D. Bates dismissed the Wilsons' lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 2007;[52][53][54][55] the Wilsons appealed. On August 12, 2008, in a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the dismissal.[56][57] Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which represents the Wilsons, "said the group will request the full D.C. Circuit to review the case and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court."[56][58] Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argued the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. On the current justice department position, Sloan stated: "We are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has failed to recognize the grievous harm that Bush White House officials inflicted on Joe and Valerie Wilson. The government's position cannot be reconciled with President Obama's oft-stated commitment to once again make government officials accountable for their actions."[59]

On June 21, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.[60]

House Oversight Committee hearing
On March 8, 2007, two days after the verdict in the Libby trial, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced that his committee would ask Plame to testify on March 16, in an effort by his committee to look into "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding Plame's identity."[61][62]

On March 16, 2007, at these hearings about the disclosure, Waxman read a statement about Plame's CIA career that had been cleared by CIA director Gen. Michael V. Hayden and the CIA, stating that she was undercover and that her employment status with the CIA was classified information prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958.

Subsequent reports in various news accounts focused on the following parts of her testimony:

"My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in the White House and state department"; this abuse occurred for "purely political reasons."[63]
After her identity was exposed by officials in the Bush administration, she had to leave the CIA: "I could no longer perform the work for which I had been highly trained."[64]
She did not select her husband for a CIA fact-finding trip to Niger, but an officer senior to her selected him and told her to ask her husband if he would consider it: "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him. There was no nepotism involved. I did not have the authority [...]."[64]
Fair Game
Main article: Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House
Plame's husband Joseph Wilson announced on March 6, 2007, that the couple had "signed a deal with Warner Bros of Hollywood to offer their consulting services — or maybe more — in the making of the forthcoming movie about the Libby trial," their lives and the CIA leak scandal.[65] The feature film, a co-production between Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Jerry and Janet Zucker of Zucker Productions with a screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth to be based in part on Valerie Wilson's memoir Fair Game (contingent on CIA clearances) originally scheduled for release in August 2007, but ultimately published on October 22, 2007.[66]

In May 2006, the New York Times reported that Valerie Wilson agreed to a $2.5-million book deal with Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. Steve Ross, senior vice president and publisher of Crown, told the Times that the book would be her "first airing of her actual role in the American intelligence community, as well as the prominence of her role in the lead-up to the war."[67] Subsequently, the New York Times reported that the book deal fell through and that Plame was in exclusive negotiations with Simon & Schuster.[68] Ultimately, Simon and Schuster publicly confirmed the book deal, though not the financial terms and, at first, no set publication date
On May 31, 2007, various news media reported that Simon and Schuster and Valerie Wilson were suing J. Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, and Michael V. Hayden, Director of the CIA, arguing that the CIA "is unconstitutionally interfering with the publication of her memoir, Fair Game, ... set to be published in October [2007], by not allowing Plame to mention the dates that she served in the CIA."[70][71] Judge Barbara S. Jones, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, interpreted the issue in favor of the CIA. Therefore, the ruling stated that Plame would not be able to describe in her memoir the precise dates she had worked for the CIA. In 2009, the federal court of appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Jones's ruling.

On October 31, 2007, in an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast on The Charlie Rose Show, Valerie Wilson discussed many aspects relating to her memoir: the CIA leak grand jury investigation; United States v. Libby, the civil suit which she and her husband were at the time still pursuing against Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Armitage; and other matters presented in her memoir relating to her covert work with the CIA.[72]

The film, Fair Game, was released November 5, 2010, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on two books, one written by Plame, and the other by her husband.[73][74] The Washington Post editorial page, led by editor Fred Hiatt, a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, who blamed Wilson for Plame's identity being leaked, described the movie as being "full of distortions - not to mention outright inventions",[75] while news reporters Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby at the Washington Post disagreed, saying "The movie holds up as a thoroughly researched and essentially accurate account -- albeit with caveats".[76]

In May 2011, it was announced that Plame would write a series of spy novels with mystery writer Sarah Lovett. The first book in the series, titled Blowback, was released on October 1, 2013, by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of the Penguin Group.[77]

Twitter takeover attempt to remove Donald Trump
In August 2017, Wilson set up a GoFundMe fundraising page in an attempt to buy a majority interest in Twitter and kick U.S. President Donald Trump off the network.[78][79][80] She launched her campaign because she believes that Donald Trump 'emboldens white supremacists' and encourages 'violence against journalists'.[81]

Titled "Let's #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump", she set the campaign's goal to $1 billion; her campaign raised $88,000.[81]

Congressional run
In May 2019, Plame announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in the 2020 elections.[82] She is a Democrat, associated with the progressive wing of the party. She prioritizes national security (with an emphasis on denuclearization), and combating climate change (with programs such as the Green New Deal).[83] https://valerieplameforcongress.com/

Antisemitism controversy
In September 2017, tweeted a link to an article from The Unz Review website posted by Philip Giraldi, titled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars", repeating the title of the article in her tweet.[84][85] The article said that certain "American Jews who lack any shred of integrity" should be given a special label when appearing on television: "kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison."[85] Amid criticism, Plame first defended her posts, replying on Twitter that "Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish."[85][86] She also said that people should “read the entire article” without “biases.”[87] Within two hours she deleted her initial post and apologized, tweeting "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest. I missed gross undercurrents to this article & didn't do my homework on the platform this piece came from. Now that I see it, it's obvious. Apologies all. There is so much there that's problematic AF and I should have recognized it sooner. Thank you for pushing me to look again. I'm not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time, Ugh."[88] Ramesh Ponnuru and Caleb Ecarma have argued that the incident followed a pattern of her posting content critical of Israel, neoconservatives, and of Plame making jokes about "rich Jews".[89][90] She had tweeted at least eight articles from the same website before,[91] in which she previously retweeted links to conspiracy theories of 'dancing Israelis' being behind the 9/11 attacks

Manitoba election

The 2019 Manitoba general election scheduled for September 10, 2019, will be held to elect members to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.[1] The Progressive Conservative government, led by Premier Brian Pallister, will attempt to win re-election. The NDP elected Wab Kinew as their new leader on September 16, 2017. Kinew was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016. The Liberals elected Dougald Lamont as their new leader on October 21, 2017. Lamont was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2018.
Date
Under the Manitoba Elections Act, the general election is to be held on the first Tuesday of October in the fourth calendar year, following the previous election.[2] As the last election was held in 2016, that date would be October 6, 2020. However, the act also provides that if, as of January 1 of the election year, the election period would overlap with a federal election period, the provincial election is to be postponed until the third Tuesday of the following April.[3]

New boundaries
In accordance with the law, Manitoba's electoral boundaries are reviewed every 10 years and this process is scheduled to complete at the end of 2018 with the 2020 elections being fought on new boundaries.[4][5]

Timeline
2016
May 7: Greg Selinger resigns as leader and Flor Marcelino becomes interim Leader of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.
September 24: Rana Bokhari resigns as Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.
October 21: Judy Klassen becomes interim Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.
2017
January 9: Kevin Chief resigns as NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Point Douglas, causing a by-election.
January 31: NDP MLA Mohinder Saran suspended from the caucus due to sexual harassment allegations.
June 13: Bernadette Smith elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Point Douglas holding the seat for the NDP with a reduced majority.
June 13: Judy Klassen resigns as interim leader to run for Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. Paul Brault becomes acting Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.
June 30: Progressive Conservative MLA Steven Fletcher expelled from the caucus after breaking with the party on multiple issues.
September 16: Wab Kinew elected Leader of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.
October 21: Dougald Lamont elected Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party.
2018
March 7: Greg Selinger resigns as NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for St. Boniface, causing a by-election.
March 21: NDP MLA for Wolseley, Rob Altemeyer, announces that he will not seek re-election.[6]
July 17: Liberal leader Dougald Lamont elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for St. Boniface, gaining the seat from the NDP and winning official party status for the Liberals.
September 11: Steven Fletcher joins and becomes Leader of the Manitoba Party.
October 22: Progressive Conservative MLA Cliff Graydon expelled from the caucus due to sexual harassment allegations.
December 14: Final Report of the Manitoba Electoral Boundaries Commission released.[7]
December 14: NDP MLA for Fort Garry-Riverview, James Allum, announces that he will not seek re-election.[8]
2019
May 22: MLA Steven Fletcher resigns as leader of the Manitoba First party.[9]
August 12: Premier Pallister visits the lieutenant governor and calls the election for September 10th

Rod Coneybeare

Rod Coneybeare (March 31, 1930 – September 5, 2019)[1] was a Canadian puppeteer and voice actor, best known for his work on the long-lived Canadian children's program The Friendly Giant, where he performed as both Jerome the Giraffe, who would appear in the window, and Rusty the rooster, who lived in a book bag.[2][3]

Back in April 1959 Coneybeare became the editor-in-chief and host of Man to Man, one of the first CBC radio shows intended for men.[4]

In addition to his work on The Friendly Giant, Coneybeare collaborated with Charles Winter on the radio program, The Rod and Charles Show. With Robert Gibbons, producer of Mr. Dressup, Coneybeare created the short-lived CBC TV series The Bananas.[5]

Coneybeare also worked as a voice actor for several cartoons. He has supplied the voice of Avalanche in X-Men and voices several characters in The Adventures of Tintin, Babar, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Blazing Dragons, Dog City, The Magic School Bus, Little Shop and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.

كايلي جينر

كايلي جينر (بالإنجليزية: Kylie Jenner)؛ (10 أغسطس 1997  -)، ممثلة برامج الواقع وعارضة أزياء أمريكية.

حياتها
ولدت في كالاباساس، لوس أنجليس، كاليفورنيا وهي الابنة الثانية من وليام بروس جينر وكريستين "كريس" ماري جينر (من مواليد 1955؛ كارداشيان سابقًا، نيي هوتون). لديها شقيقة أكبر سنًا، كيندال (من مواليد 1995). لديها ثلاثة أخوات غير شقيقات من زوج والدتها السابق وهن: كورتني كارداشيان(ولدت في 1979)،كيم كردشيان(من مواليد 1980) و كلوي كارداشيان(مواليد 1984)، و أخ غير شقيق روبرت آرثر "روب" كارداشيان (ولد 1987). من والدها لديها ثلاثة اخوة غير أشقاء كبار: بيرتون وليام "بيرت" (ولد 1978)، براندون تومسون (من مواليد 1981)، وسام برودي (من مواليد 1983)، وأخت كايسي جينر (من مواليد 1980) . كانت جينر مشجعة في مدرسة (بالإنجليزية: Sierra Canyon School) ولكنها أصبحت تدرس في منزلهم سمبول وخرج في سبتمبر 2012.

السيرة المهنية
بدأت حياتها كعارضة أزياء مع خط سيرز "Crush Your Style". وقامت بالتقاط الصور مع مجلة OK!, كانت جينر على غلاف مجلة Teen Vogue مع شقيقتها كندال. وقد ظهرت أيضًا على غلاف مجلة Seventeen في سبتمبر أيلول "العودة إلى المدرسة جنبا إلى جنب" مع شقيقتها الأكبر سنًا كيندال.

في 2012 تعاونت مع شركة باك سن للملابس مع اختها كيندل وأنشأتا تصميمات خاصة بهما تدعى (كيندل وكايلي). أعمال فنية وظهور تلفزيوني

Kylie Jenner

Kylie Kristen Jenner (born August 10, 1997)[4] is an American media personality, model, businesswoman, and socialite. She has starred in the E! reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians since 2007 and is the founder and owner of cosmetic company Kylie Cosmetics.

At age 14 in 2012, she collaborated with the clothing brand PacSun, along with her sister Kendall, and created a line of clothing, "Kendall & Kylie". In 2015, Jenner launched her own cosmetics line called Kylie Lip Kits, which was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics the following year.[5] She also released a mobile app that reached number one on the iTunes App Store.[6]

In 2014 and 2015, Time magazine listed the Jenner sisters on their list of the most influential teens in the world, citing their considerable influence among youth on social media.[7][8] As of March 2019, with over 129 million followers,[9] she is one of the most followed people on Instagram.[10] In 2017, Jenner was placed on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, making her the youngest person to be featured on the list.[11] Jenner starred on her own spin-off series, Life of Kylie, which premiered on E! on August 6, 2017.[12]

According to Forbes magazine, Jenner's net worth is estimated at US$1 billion, making her, at age 21, the world's youngest billionaire as of March 2019.[13][14] However, the notion of Jenner being self-made encountered critique, arguing that she comes from a privileged background.[15][16] In November 2018, New York Post credited her for being the most influential celebrity in the fashion industry
Early life
Jenner was born in 1997 in Los Angeles, California. The youngest daughter of 1976 Summer Olympics decathlon winner Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner) and TV personality Kris Jenner,[a][18] she has an older sister, Kendall. On Kris's side of the family, she has three older half-sisters, Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, and one older half-brother, Rob. Jenner also has three older half-brothers from Caitlyn's side of the family—Burt, Brandon, and Brody Jenner—and an older half-sister, Casey.

Jenner attended Sierra Canyon School, where she was a member of the cheerleading team. Jenner claims to have performed in plays while attending school, along with community plays.[19] In 2012, she became homeschooled and enrolled in an at-home education program, from which she graduated with a high school diploma in July 2015 from Laurel Springs School in Ojai, California.[20][21]

Career
2007–2012: Keeping Up with the Kardashians
In 2007, Jenner, along with her parents and siblings, Kendall, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, began appearing in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which chronicles the personal and professional lives of their family members.[22] The series was successful for its network, E!, and has resulted in the creation of numerous spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, and Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons, in which Jenner has made multiple guest appearances.[23] The sisters hosted Glee: The 3D Concert Movie at the Regency Village Theater in Westwood, California in August 2011,[24] In 2011, they were featured in Seventeen magazine's Style Stars of the Year,[25][26] and selected them as "Style Ambassadors" for the magazine.[27] The two hosted the premiere of The Vow in Hollywood in February 2012.[28] The Jenners also interviewed the cast of The Hunger Games premiere in the at The Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles in March 2012.[29] Later in 2012, she starred alongside her sister Kendall and mother Kris Jenner in an episode of American reality television series America's Next Top Model.

2013–2014: Early endorsements
Jenner has two nail lacquers from the Nicole by OPI nail polish brand called Wear Something Spar-kylie and Rainbow in the S-kylie.[30] Kendall and Kylie earned $100,000 each for their OPI endorsements in 2013.[31]

On November 15, 2013, the Jenner sisters announced that they would launch The Kendall & Kylie Collection with PacSun[32] which launched on February 2013. Since its conception, the sisters have released several collections for this line. In July 2013, the Jenner sisters launched a jewelry line with Pascal Mouawad's Glamhouse[33][34] to create the Metal Haven by Kendall & Kylie jewelry collection.

Jenner set up an eBay account where she auctions old clothing to raise money for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.[35] Jenner joined her family in a charity yard sale on November 10, 2013.[36] Proceeds from the sale were donation-matched and sent to Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry and the Greater Los Angeles Fisher House Foundation. She joined Khloé, Kendall, Lil Twist, and The Game at PINZ bowling alley in Studio City, California for a charity bowling game on January 19, 2014. The event was held to raise money for The Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit for which The Game pledged to raise $1 million in donations.[37] The Jenner sisters participated in singer Chris Brown's two Kick'n It For Charity Celebrity Kickball games in Glendale, California on July 19, 2014[38] and on August 16, 2014.[39] At the first game, she competed on actor/singer Quincy Brown's team. Jenner donated to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community.[40]

In February 2014, she and Kendall launched a shoe and handbag line for Steve Madden's Madden Girl line.[41][42] The Jenner sisters co-hosted the 2014 Much Music Video Awards, where Kylie made her acting debut in a promo for the show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June 2014.[43] In August 2014, the Jenner sisters appeared in singer PartyNextDoor's "Recognize" music video.[44] Jenner and her sister Kendall co-authored the dystopian science fiction novel Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia, which revolved around two twin girls, Lex and Livia, in a "self-sustaining biosphere" put together from the remains of Earth known as Indra.[45] The novel was criticized upon release as a ghostwritten work, which prompted its ghostwriter Maya Sloan to reveal that while the Jenner sisters wrote a two-page outline for what they wanted the novel to be like, Sloan was truly responsible for the writing of the book. However, the Jenners' creative director, Elizabeth Killmond-Roman, clarified that the two had numerous Skype and FaceTime calls with Sloan to discuss the content of the novel.[46] The novel was mostly panned by critics, and sold only 13,000 copies in its first four months on sale.[47] The book was also given a sequel, Time of the Twins, which was also co-authored by the Jenner sisters. Jenner launched a line of hair extensions through a partnership with Bellami Hair, called Kylie Hair Kouture, in October 2014.[48][49][50]

2015–2018: Rise of Kylie Cosmetics
Jenner became skincare brand Nip + Fab's second-ever ambassador in March 2015.[51]

The Jenner sisters were booed while introducing brother-in-law Kanye West's performance at the Billboard Music Awards in May 2015.[52] In May 2015, an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered in which Jenner admitted to getting a lip augmentation.[53] Her enhanced lips from lip fillers created speculation and gained her publicity. Prior to the episode's debut, Jenner stated that she merely used lip liner and over lined her lips.[54] As a result, the practice of suctioning one's lips into a small glass in order to induce greater blood flow to swell the lips was called the "Kylie Jenner Challenge" (though there was no indication that Jenner herself employed this method).[55] Jenner responded to this by stating, "I'm not here to try & encourage people/young girls to look like me or to think this is the way they should look."[56] In June 2015, the Jenner sisters launched their clothing line Kendall + Kylie with British fashion retailer Topshop.[57] This Topshop clothing line also featured swimsuits.[58] In August 2015, Jenner announced that she would be launching her first lipstick line as a part of her self-titled lip kit under the name Kylie Lip Kit.[59] In September 2015, Jenner launched her new personalized website and mobile app.[60] In October 2015, Jenner starred in Tyga's music video for his song "Dope'd Up
In February 2016, Jenner's cosmetic company was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics and the number of kits produced rose from an initial 15,000 to 500,000.[63] Jenner released a three-minute-long promotional video for a series of lip glosses in March 2016, directed by Colin Tilley and starring fellow models Karin Jinsui, Mara Teigen, and Jasmine Sanders.[64][65][66][67][68] The song in the video was revealed to be "Three Strikes" by Terror Jr, a band created on the same day as the release of the video; however, the lead singer, who was later revealed to be singer Lisa Vatale,[69] was heavily speculated to be Jenner herself.[70][71][72][73] However, Jenner subsequently denied any involvement with the band.[74][75] In May 2016, she made her musical debut rapping on producer Burberry Perry's song "Beautiful Day", with Lil Yachty, model Jordyn Woods, and Justine Skye.[76] In fall of 2016, Jenner was announced to be the new face of PUMA along with Rae Sremmurd.[77] In April 2017, she made a surprise appearance at the Rio Americano High School prom in Sacramento alongside junior Albert Ochoa after hearing that his date had turned him down.[78][79][80]

In June 2017, Jenner announced two new cosmetics sets in collaboration with her sister Khloe Kardashian and the Kylie Cosmetics KoKo collection.[81] Later that month, Jenner was accused of stealing designs for a series of camouflage items released on her online store from independent design label PluggedNYC, whose creative director supported the claims.[82][83][84][85] Later that June, Jenner was placed at number 59 on the Forbes Celebrity 100, which calculates the 100 highest-paid celebrities of the previous 12 months, after earning approximately US$41,000,000, making her the youngest person on the list at 19 years old.[11] Jenner collaborated with Melbourne-based sunglasses brand Quay Australia[86][87] to release a line of sunglasses, Quay x Kylie.[88][89][90] In 2018, the company Kylie Cosmetics has reportedly sold about $630 million worth of makeup.

Jenner stars in a reality show revolving around her life, Life of Kylie, which premiered in August 2017. The reality show drew half the viewers that brother Rob Kardashian's reality series Rob & Chyna did on its debut.[91]

2019–present: Debut of Kylie Skin
In 2019, Jenner founded her own skincare brand Kylie Skin which was launched on May 22, 2019.[92][93] The brand began producing dermis products, including face washes, scrubs, moisturizers and makeup removing wipes.

Personal life
Jenner and rapper Travis Scott have a daughter, Stormi Webster, born in February 2018.[94][95] Jenner had previously dated rapper Tyga between 2014 and 2017.[96][97][98][99] Kylie has always kept a small circle of friends which also includes her makeup artist, hairstylist, and manager. In February 2019, Jenner severed ties with her childhood best friend, Jordyn Woods, after Tristan Thompson (Khloe Kardashian's partner at the time) cheated on Khloe with Woods. On May 2019, Jordyn Woods officially left Jenner's home and packed her belongings following the incident regarding Tristan Thompson.[100]

Wealth
In March 2019, Forbes Magazine included Kylie Jenner on its list of billionaires. Jenner became world’s youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 21. Apart from her TV career that began with Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Jenner’s bulk wealth also comes from her make-up company, Kylie Cosmetics, valued at $800 million.[101]

Controversies
Kendall + Kylie "Rock vs. Rap" collection
On June 28, 2017, the Jenner sisters announced that they would be releasing a line of vintage T-shirts for their Kendall + Kylie line of clothing called Rock vs. Rap,[102][103] featuring the likenesses of various rock and rap artists[104] including The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Metallica, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Ozzy Osbourne, and Led Zeppelin, with pictures of the Jenner sisters superimposed over them.[102] The announcement of this line of products was met with swift backlash from relatives and representatives of the figures depicted on the shirts themselves, including Sharon Osbourne,[105] Jim Jampol,[106][107] and Voletta Wallace, mother of Biggie Smalls.[108] They were also criticized on social media and were called "insensitive."[109] Wallace, The Doors' manager and the estate of Jim Morrison issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Jenner sisters, writing that they did not authorize the sisters' use of the likenesses of these musical icons.[110][111] The Jenners apologized for the shirts, and pulled them from retail.[102]

Forbes cover
Jenner appeared on the cover of the August 2018 issue of Forbes. They estimated that she had a net worth of $900 million, and that she was on the verge of becoming the youngest "self-made" billionaire.[112] This would beat out Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23.[113] However, the publication's use of the term "self-made" sparked widespread criticism and jokes online.[114] Critics argued that Jenner was already born into fame and fortune.[115] The Dictionary.com Twitter handle cheekily defined the term "self-made."[116] Comedian Fat Jew started a GoFundMe page to help Kylie Jenner earn another $100 million so that she would officially become a billionaire.[117] Comedian Michelle Wolf had a viral stand-up comedy act related to how Jenner earned her fame and success.[118] Some discussions took a more serious tone, with journalists writing pieces on wealth distribution, inequality and inheritance, as well as upward mobility in society.[119][120][121] However, celebrities such as Jenner's half-sister Kim Kardashian and socialite Paris Hilton have come out and defended Jenner, legitimizing assertions that she is indeed self-made, while Hilton also described herself as self-made.[122][123] Jenner responded that “The self-made thing is true ... My parents told me I needed to make my own money, it's time to learn how to save and spend your own money, stuff like that. What I'm trying to say is, I did have a platform, but none of my money is inherited.” [115][124]

Lawsuits and civil disputes
"Kylie" trademark
In February 2017, Australian singer Kylie Minogue won a legal battle against Jenner for name trademark "Kylie". Jenner had filed a U.S. trademark application for use of the name "Kylie" for "advertising services" and "endorsement services" in 2015.[125]

Vlada Haggarty
In January 2017, make-up artist Vlada Haggarty claimed that Jenner had stolen the creative style and aesthetic of her own work, such as the dripping gloss lip and golden finger tips, for her own products, and that Jenner had a history of taking Haggerty's original dripping lip art and passing it off as her own. Jenner later credited Vlada on social media and her work on the creation of the logo and an undisclosed settlement was paid to avoid any future legal issues.[126][127][128]

Neon lip logo
Sara Pope, a British painter whose work has been featured in art galleries in several cities across the globe, filed a lawsuit against Jenner and NBC Universal for the use of a neon lip logo. Hope stated that Jenner posted to her social media accounts an image that was remarkably similar to Hope's most famous piece, "Temptation Neon" and used it to promote Jenner's TV series Life of Kylie. TMZ reported that the production art created for the series, including the lip design, was created by a third party designer

جون بولتون

جون روبرت بولتون (ولد في 20 نوفمبر 1948) هو محام ودبلوماسي أمريكي خدم في عدة إدارات جمهورية. عمل بولتون سفيرا للولايات المتحدة لدى الأمم المتحدة في الفترة من أغسطس آب 2005 حتى ديسمبر 2006 كعضو معين من قبل الرئيس جورج دبليو بوش.  استقال ما أن انتهت فترة تعيينه،  لأنه من غير المرجح أن يحظى بتأييد مجلس الشيوخ الذي سيتولى أغلبيته الحزب الديمقراطي المنتخب حديثا في يناير 2007.

بولتون هو حاليا زميل كبير في معهد المشاريع الأمريكية (AEI)،  وهو مستشار لمؤسسة فريدوم كابيتال لإدارة الاستثمارات،  ومعلق في قناة فوكس نيوز، ومحامي إلى مكتب دي سي كيركلاند و إليس للمحاماة في واشنطن العاصمة.  وكان مستشار السياسة الخارجية للمرشح الرئاسي عام 2012 ميت رومني.  ويشارك بولتون أيضا مع عدد من المراكز الفكرية ومعاهد السياسة المحافظة سياسيا، بما في ذلك معهد إيست ويست ديناميكس، والاتحاد القومي للأسلحة، واللجنة الأمريكية للحرية الدينية الدولية، ومجلس السياسة الوطنية (CNP)، ومعهد غيتستون،  حيث يعمل رئيسا للمنظمة.

وقد وصف بولتون بأنه من المحافظين الجدد،  رغم أنه نفسه يرفض هذا المصطلح.  وقد كان مشاركا بارزا في العديد من الجماعات المحافظة الجديدة، مثل مشروع القرن الأمريكي الجديد (PNAC) والمعهد اليهودي للأمن القومي الأمريكي (JINSA) ولجنة السلام والأمن في الخليج (CPSG).

John Bolton

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, political commentator, Republican consultant, and former diplomat who was the 27th National Security Advisor of the United States from April 9, 2018 to September 10, 2019.[6][7]

Bolton was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006 as a recess appointee by President George W. Bush.[8] He resigned at the end of his recess appointment in December 2006[9][10] because he was unlikely to win confirmation from the Senate, of which the Democratic Party had gained control at the time.[11][12]

Bolton is a former senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),[13] and Fox News Channel commentator. He was a foreign policy adviser to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[14] Bolton has been involved with numerous conservative organizations, including the anti-Muslim Gatestone Institute,[15] where he was the organization Chairman until March 2018,[16] and as a Director of the Project for the New American Century, which favored going to war with Iraq.

Bolton is a foreign policy hawk and is an advocate for regime change in Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemen and North Korea.[17][18] He has also repeatedly called for the termination of the Iran nuclear deal. He was an advocate of the Iraq War and continues to support the decision to invade Iraq.[19] He has continuously supported military action and regime change in Syria, Libya, and Iran.[20][19] A Republican, his political views have been described as American nationalist,[21][22] conservative,[23][24][25][26] and neoconservative.[27] Bolton rejects the last term.
Early life, education and early career
Bolton was born on November 20, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Virginia Clara "Ginny" (née Godfrey), a housewife, and Edward Jackson "Jack" Bolton, a Baltimore City fireman.[31][32][33] He grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Yale Heights and won a scholarship to the McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland, graduating in 1966.[31] He also ran the school's Students For Goldwater campaign in 1964.

Bolton attended Yale University, earning a B.A. and graduating summa cum laude in 1970. He was a member of the Yale Political Union. He attended Yale Law School from 1971 to 1974, where he shared classes with his friend Clarence Thomas, earning a J.D. in 1974.[34]

In 1972, Bolton was a summer intern for Vice President Spiro Agnew.[35][36] He was hired for the position by David Keene.[35]

Vietnam War
Bolton was a supporter of the Vietnam War, but purposely avoided military service in Vietnam.[37][31] During the 1969 Vietnam War draft lottery, Bolton drew number 185. (Draft numbers were assigned by birth date.)[38] As a result of the Johnson and Nixon administrations' decisions to rely largely on the draft rather than on the reserve forces, joining a Guard or Reserve unit became a way to avoid service in the Vietnam War, although 42 Army Reserve units were called up with 35 of them deployed to Vietnam shortly after the Tet offensive in 1968–69, 5760 reservists dying in the conflict.[39][40][41][42] Before graduating from Yale in 1970, Bolton enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard rather than wait to find out if his draft number would be called.[43][44] (The highest number called to military service was 195.)[45] He saw active duty for 18 weeks of training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, from July to November 1970.[44] After serving in the National Guard for four years, he served in the United States Army Reserve until the end of his enlistment two years later.[5]

He wrote in his Yale 25th reunion book: "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy. I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."[37] In a 2007 interview, Bolton explained his comment in the reunion book saying his decision to avoid service in Vietnam was because "by the time I was about to graduate in 1970, it was clear to me that opponents of the Vietnam War had made it certain we could not prevail, and that I had no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from."[46][47][48]

Attorney
From 1974 to 1981, Bolton was an associate at the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling; he returned to the firm again from 1983 to 1985. Bolton was also a partner in the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus, from 1993 to 1999.[49][50][51] He was of counsel in the Washington office of Kirkland & Ellis from 2008 until his appointment as National Security Advisor in 2018.[52][53][54] In September 2015, Freedom Capital Investment Management appointed Bolton as a senior advisor.[55]

Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations
During the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, his governmental roles were within the State Department, the Justice Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was a protégé of conservative North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.[56]

His Justice Department position as an assistant attorney general required him to advance Reagan administration positions, including[57] opposition to financial reparations to Japanese-Americans held in World War II-era internment camps;[58] the insistence on Reagan's executive privilege during William Rehnquist's chief justice confirmation hearings, when Congress asked for memos written by Rehnquist as a Nixon Justice Department official;[59] shepherding the judicial nomination process for Antonin Scalia;[57] and the framing of a bill to control illegal immigration as an essential drug war measure.[57] He was also involved in the Iran–Contra affair.[60][61][62]

Bolton's government service included positions such as:

Assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State (1989–1993);
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division (1988–1989);[63]
Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of Justice (1985–1988);[5]
Assistant administrator for program and policy coordination, USAID (1982–1983); and
General counsel, USAID (1981–1982).[49][50] While working for USAID, Lynne Finney, a legal adviser for the agency, alleged that Bolton threatened to fire her for refusing to lobby for the deregulation of baby formula in developing nations.[64]
Under Secretary of State (2001–2005)
Bolton worked as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, sworn into this position on May 11, 2001. In this role, a key area of his responsibility was the prevention of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Bolton negotiated so-called "Article 98" agreements with countries to prohibit them from turning Americans over to the International Criminal Court, which is not recognized by the U.S.[65][66] Bolton said the decision to pull out of the ICC was the "happiest moment" of his political career to date.[67][65]

Weapons of mass destruction
Bolton was instrumental in derailing a 2001 biological weapons conference in Geneva convened to endorse a UN proposal to enforce the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. He argued that the plan would have jeopardized U.S. national security by allowing spot inspections of suspected U.S. weapons sites.[68]

In May 2002, Bolton gave a speech entitled "Beyond the Axis of Evil" in response to President Bush's State of the Union Address (where Bush characterized Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as part of an "Axis of Evil"). Bolton added three more nations to be grouped with the aforementioned rogue states: Cuba, Libya, and Syria. Bolton said they were all "state sponsors of terrorism that are pursuing or who have the potential to pursue weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or have the capability to do so in violation of their treaty obligations."[69] During his time as Under Secretary of State, Bolton "sought to block, and often succeeded in sabotaging" the negotiations that Secretary of State Colin Powell conducted with North Korea[70]

Also in 2002, Bolton is said to have flown to Europe to demand the resignation of Brazilian José Bustani, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and to have orchestrated his removal at a special session of the organization.[71] Bustani was deemed to be an obstacle in creating the case for the invasion of Iraq.[72] The United Nations' highest administrative tribunal later condemned the action as an "unacceptable violation" of principles protecting international civil servants. Bustani had been unanimously re-elected for a four-year term—with strong U.S. support—in May 2000, and in 2001 was praised for his leadership by Colin Powell.[73] According to Bustani, John Bolton demanded that he step down in 24 hours, adding, "We know where your children are".[74]

He also pushed for reduced funding for the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program to halt the proliferation of nuclear materials.[75] At the same time, he was involved in the implementation of the Proliferation Security Initiative, working with a number of countries to intercept the trafficking in weapons of mass destruction and in materials for use in building nuclear weapons.[76]

Diplomacy
According to an article in The New Republic, Bolton was highly successful in pushing his agenda, but his bluntness made him many enemies. "Iran's Foreign Ministry has called Bolton 'rude' and 'undiplomatic'."[77] In response to critics, Bolton states that his record "demonstrates clear support for effective multilateral diplomacy." Bush administration officials have stated that his past statements would allow him to negotiate from a powerful position. "It's like the Palestinians having to negotiate with [Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon. If you have a deal, you know you have a deal," an anonymous official told CNN.[78] He also "won widespread praise for his work establishing the Proliferation Security Initiative, a voluntary agreement supported by 60 countries".[79]

Unsubstantiated claims about a Cuban WMD program
In 2002, Bolton held a speech at the Heritage Foundation where he accused Cuba of having a secret biological weapons program, and of collaborating with Libya and Iran.[51][80][81] Bolton asserted, "The United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort. Cuba has provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states."[82][81] Bolton made the remarks a week before former president Jimmy Carter was scheduled to meet Fidel Castro in Cuba, becoming the first U.S. President since the Cuban Revolution to visit Cuba in an effort to build bridges between the two countries.[81]

The State Department's chief bioweapons analyst refused to approve the accusation made in the speech, telling Bolton that the State Department did not have evidence to substantiate Bolton's accusation.[51][80][83][81] Subsequently, Bolton berated the analyst, unsuccessfully sought to fire him, began to exclude the analyst's supervisor from meetings, and tried to transfer the analyst to a different office.[51][80][81] Bolton was also alleged to have sought to punish other intelligence officers who refused to endorse his claims about Cuba.[84][75][81] Paul Pillar described Bolton's attempts to get the intelligence community to endorse his views as among the most egregious recent instances of "arm-twisting" the intelligence community,[83] while Columbia University international relations scholar Richard K. Betts described the reports about Bolton's pressure as "most blatant top-down pressure on intelligence" in the Bush administration.[85] Bolton claims that the issue was procedural rather than related to the content of his speech and that the officers, who did not work under him, behaved unprofessionally.[80]

In April 2004, Bolton again accused Cuba of being a "terrorist and (biological weapons) threat to the United States."[86] Experts at the time disputed the veracity of Bolton's claims, saying that the evidence in support of the claim was weak.[87] In September 2004 and in the wake of the failure to locate WMDs in Iraq, the Bush administration backed off claims that Cuba had an active biological weapons program.[88]

Criticism
Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman alleged that Bolton played a role in encouraging the inclusion of statement that British Intelligence had determined Iraq attempted to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger in Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address.[89] These statements were claimed by critics of the President to be partly based on documents found to be forged.[90] Waxman's allegations could not be confirmed, as they were based on classified documents.[89]

Bolton stated in June 2004 congressional testimony that Iran was lying about enriched uranium contamination: "Another unmistakable indicator of Iran's intentions is the pattern of repeatedly lying to ... the IAEA ... when evidence of uranium enriched to 36 percent was found, it attributed this to contamination from imported centrifuge parts." However, later isotope analysis supported Iran's explanation of foreign contamination for most of the observed enriched uranium.[91] At their August 2005 meeting the IAEA's Board of Governors concluded: "Based on the information currently available to the Agency, the results of that analysis tend, on balance, to support Iran's statement about the foreign origin of most of the observed highly enriched uranium contamination."[92]

Bolton has often been accused of attempting to pressure the intelligence community to endorse his views.[93][83][94] According to former coworkers, Bolton withheld information that ran counter to his goals from Secretary of State Colin Powell on multiple occasions, and from Powell's successor Condoleezza Rice on at least one occasion.[94][95]

Ambassador to the United Nations (2005–2006)
On March 7, 2005, Bolton was nominated to the post of United States Ambassador to the United Nations by President George W. Bush.[78][96] As a result of a Democratic filibuster, he was recess-appointed to the post on August 1, 2005. Bolton's nomination received strong support from Republicans but faced heavy opposition from Democrats due initially to concerns about his strongly expressed views on the United Nations.

Holding a 10–8 majority in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (tasked with vetting ambassadorial nominees), the Republican leadership hoped to send Bolton's nomination to the full Senate with a positive recommendation. Concern among some Republicans on the committee, however, prompted the leadership to avoid losing such a motion and instead to send the nomination forward with no recommendation. In the full Senate, Republican support for the nomination remained uncertain, with the most vocal Republican critic, Ohio Senator George V. Voinovich, circulating a letter urging his Republican colleagues to oppose the nomination.[97] Democrats insisted that a vote on the nomination was premature, given the resistance of the White House to share classified documents related to Bolton's alleged actions. The Republican leadership moved on two occasions to end debate, but because a supermajority of 60 votes is needed to end debate, the leadership was unable to muster the required votes with only a 55–44 majority in the body. An earlier agreement between moderates in both parties to prevent filibustering of nominees was interpreted by the Democrats to relate only to judicial nominees,[98] not ambassadorships, although the leader of the effort, Sen. John McCain, said the spirit of the agreement was to include all nominees.

On November 9, 2006, Bush, only days after losing both houses to a Democratic majority, sent the nomination[99] for Bolton to continue as representative for the United States at the UN.[100] He said: "I believe that the leaders of both political parties must try to work through our differences. And I believe we will be able to work through differences. I reassured the House and Senate leaders that I intend to work with the new Congress in a bipartisan way to address issues confronting this country."[101]

Views on the United Nations
Bolton has been a strong critic of the United Nations for much of his career.[102] Bolton's opposition to the UN was rooted in a disdain for international organizations, who he believed infringed on the sovereignty of the United States.[103][104] He also opposed the International Criminal Court.[103][104] In 1994, he stated, "There is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that's the United States, when it suits our interests and when we can get others to go along."[105]

He also stated that "The Secretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."[106] When pressed on the statement during the confirmation process, he responded, "There's not a bureaucracy in the world that couldn't be made leaner."[107] In a paper on U.S. participation in the UN, Bolton stated "the United Nations can be a useful instrument in the conduct of American foreign policy."[108]

2005 nomination, Senate confirmation hearings
On April 11, 2005, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reviewed Bolton's qualifications. Bolton said that he and his colleagues "view the U.N. as an important component of our diplomacy" and will work to solve its problems and enhance its strengths,[109] echoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's words from a month earlier.[110]

On the first day of the hearings, Republican committee chairman Richard Lugar criticized Bolton for ignoring the "policy consequences" of his statements, saying diplomatic speech "should never be undertaken simply to score international debating points to appeal to segments of the U.S. public opinion or to validate a personal point of view."[111] The committee's top Democrat, Joe Biden, compared sending Bolton to the UN to sending a "bull into a china shop," and expressed "grave concern" about Bolton's "diplomatic temperament" and his record: "In my judgment, your judgment about how to deal with the emerging threats have not been particularly useful," Biden said.[112] Republican Senator George Allen said that Bolton had the "experience," "knowledge," "background," "and the right principles to come into the United Nations at this time," calling him "the absolute perfect person for the job."[113] Democratic Senator Russ Feingold asked Bolton about what he would have done had the Rwandan genocide occurred while he was ambassador to the United Nations, and criticized his answer—which focused on logistics—as "amazingly passive."[114] According to Newsday, then-Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee "may be pivotal for Bolton's nomination."[115] His initial remarks were cautiously favorable: "You said all the right things in your opening statement." Chafee stated that he would probably support Bolton "unless something surprising shows up."[115]

On the second day, April 12, 2005, the Senate panel focused on allegations discussed above that Bolton pressured intelligence analysts. Calling Bolton a "serial abuser, " former State Department intelligence chief Carl W. Ford Jr. said, "I've never seen anybody quite like Secretary Bolton ... I don't have a second, third or fourth in terms of the way that he abuses his power and authority with little people." Ford contradicted Bolton's earlier testimony, saying: "I had been asked for the first time to fire an intelligence analyst for what he had said and done." Ford also characterized Bolton as a "kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy", implying that he was always ready to please whoever had authority over him, while having very little regard for people working under him.[116]

Lugar, who criticized Bolton at his April 11 hearing, said that the "paramount issue" was supporting Bush's nominee. He conceded that "bluntness ... may be required", even though it is not "very good diplomacy".[117] Chafee, the key member for Bolton's approval, said that "the bar is very high" for rejecting the president's nominees, suggesting that Bolton would make it to the Senate.[118]

On April 19, Democrats, with support from Voinovich, forced Lugar to delay the committee vote on Bolton's nomination until May. The debate concerning his nomination raged in the Senate prior to the Memorial Day recess. Two other Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee, Chafee and Chuck Hagel, also expressed serious concerns about the Bolton nomination.[119] Asked on April 20 if he was now less inclined to support the nomination, Chafee said, "That would be accurate." He further elaborated that Bolton's prospects were "hard to predict" but said he expected that "the administration is really going to put some pressure on Senator Voinovich. Then it comes to the rest of us that have had some reservations."[119]

On April 20, it emerged that Melody Townsel, a former USAID contractor, had reported to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton had used inflammatory language and thrown objects in the course of her work activities in Moscow. Townsel's encounter with Bolton occurred when she served as a whistleblower against a poorly performing minority contractor for USAID, IBTCI. Townsel told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff that Bolton had made derogatory remarks about her sexual orientation and weight, among other workplace improprieties. In an official interview with Senate Foreign Relation Committee staff, Townsel detailed her accusations against Bolton, which were confirmed by Canadian designer Uno Ramat, who had served as an IBTCI employee and one of Townsel's AID colleagues. Time magazine, among other publications, verified Townsel's accusations and Ramat's supporting testimony, and Townsel's story was transcribed and entered into the official Senate committee record. Townsel, who was an employee of Young & Rubicam at the time of her encounter with Bolton, continued working for the company on a variety of other USAID projects.[120][121][122]

On April 22, The New York Times and other media reported that Bolton's former boss, Colin Powell, personally opposed the nomination and had been in personal contact with Chafee and Hagel. The same day, Reuters reported that a spokesman for Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that the Senator felt the committee "did the right thing delaying the vote on Bolton in light of the recent information presented to the committee."[123]

Also on May 11, Newsweek reported allegations that the American position at the 7th Review Conference in May 2005[124] of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty had been undercut by Bolton's "absence without leave" during the nomination fight, quoting anonymous sources "close to the negotiations".[125]

Democrats' filibuster
On May 26, 2005, Senate Democrats postponed the vote on Bolton's UN nomination. The Republican leadership failed to gain enough support to pass a cloture motion on the floor debate over Bolton, and minority leader Harry Reid conceded the move signaled the "first filibuster of the year." The Democrats claimed that key documents regarding Bolton and his career at the Department of State were being withheld by the Bush administration. Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, responded by saying, "Just 72 hours after all the good will and bipartisanship (over a deal on judicial nominees), it's disappointing to see the Democratic leadership resort back to such a partisan approach."[126]

The failure of the Senate to end debate on Bolton's nomination provided one surprise for some: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) voted against cloture for procedural reasons, so that he could bring up a cloture vote in the future.[citation needed] (Although Voinovich once spoke against confirming Bolton, he voted for cloture.) Senator John Thune (R-SD) voted to end debate but announced that he would vote against Bolton in the up-or-down vote as a protest against the government's plans to close a military base (Ellsworth) in his home state.

On June 20, 2005, the Senate voted again on cloture. The vote failed 54–38, six votes short of ending debate. That marked an increase of two "no" votes, including the defection of Voinovich, who switched his previous "yes" vote and urged President Bush to pick another nominee (Democrats Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson voted to end debate both times). On June 21, Frist expressed his view that attempting another vote would be pointless, but later that day, following a lunch at the White House, changed his position, saying that he would continue to push for an up-or-down vote.[citation needed] Voinovich later recanted his opposition and stated that if Bolton were renominated he would have supported the nomination.[127]

Accusations of false statement
On July 28, 2005, it was revealed that a statement made by Bolton on forms submitted to the Senate was false. Bolton indicated that in the prior five years he had not been questioned in any investigation, but in fact he had been interviewed by the State Department's Inspector General as part of an investigation into the sources of pre-war claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. After insisting for weeks that Bolton had testified truthfully on the form, the State Department reversed itself, stating that Bolton had simply forgotten about the investigation.[128]

Recess appointment
On August 1, 2005, Bush officially made a recess appointment of Bolton, installing him as Permanent U.S. Representative to the UN. A recess appointment lasts until the next session of Congress ends or until the individual is renominated and confirmed by the Senate. During the announcement, Bush said, "This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform."[129] Democrats criticized the appointment, and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Bolton would lack credibility in the U.N. because he lacked Senate confirmation.[130] U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Mr. Bolton, but told reporters that the new ambassador should consult with others as the administration continued to press for changes at the United Nations.[131]

Term at the UN
The Economist called Bolton "the most controversial ambassador ever sent by America to the United Nations." Some colleagues in the UN appreciated the goals Bolton was trying to achieve, but not his abrasive style.[132][133] The New York Times, in its editorial The Shame of the United Nations, praised Bolton's stance on "reforming the disgraceful United Nations Human Rights Commission",[134] saying "John Bolton, is right; Secretary-General Kofi Annan is wrong." The Times also said that the commission at that time was composed of "some of the world's most abusive regimes" who used their membership as cover to continue their abusiveness.

Bolton also opposed the proposed replacement for the Human Rights Commission, the UN Human Rights Council, as not going far enough for reform, saying: "We want a butterfly. We don't intend to put lipstick on a caterpillar and call it a success."[135]

2006 nomination
Bush announced his intention to renominate Bolton for confirmation as U.N. ambassador at the beginning of 2006, and a new confirmation hearing was held on July 27, 2006, in the hope of completing the process before the expiration of Bolton's recess appointment at the end of the 109th Congress.[136] Voinovich, who had previously stood in opposition to Bolton, had amended his views and determined that Bolton was doing a "good job" as UN ambassador; in February 2006, he said "I spend a lot of time with John on the phone. I think he is really working very constructively to move forward."[137]

Over the summer and during the fall election campaign, no action was taken on the nomination because Chafee, who was in a difficult re-election campaign, blocked a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote.[citation needed] Without his concurrence, the SFRC would have been deadlocked 9–9, and the nomination could not have gone to the Senate floor for a full vote. Bush formally resubmitted the nomination on November 9, 2006, immediately following a midterm election that would give control of the 110th Congress to the Democratic party.[138] Chafee, who had just lost his re-election bid, issued a statement saying he would vote against recommending Bolton for a Senate vote, citing what he considered to be a mandate from the recent election results: "On Tuesday, the American people sent a clear message of dissatisfaction with the foreign policy approach of the Bush administration. To confirm Mr. Bolton to the position of U.N. ambassador would fly in the face of the clear consensus of the country that a new direction is called for."[139]

Termination of service
On December 4, 2006, Bolton announced that he would terminate his work as U.S. representative to the UN at the end of the recess appointment and would not continue to seek confirmation.[140] His letter of resignation from the Bush administration was accepted on December 4, 2006, effective when his recess appointment ended December 9 at the formal adjournment of the 109th Congress.

The announcement was characterized as Bolton's "resignation" by the Associated Press,[141] United Press International,[142] ABC News,[143] and other news sources, as well as a White House press release[10] and President Bush himself.[144] The White House, however, later objected to the use of this language. Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino told CBS News "it is not a resignation."[145] The actual language of the President's written acceptance was: "It is with deep regret that I accept John Bolton's decision to end his service in the administration as permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations when his commission expires." However, at press conference, the president said, "I received the resignation of Ambassador John Bolton. I accept it. I'm not happy about it. I think he deserved to be confirmed."[144] Some news organizations subsequently altered their language to phrases such as "to step down," "to leave," or "to exit."[146][147][148]

Support for Bolton
During his confirmation hearings in 2005, letters with signatures of more than 64 co-workers and professional colleagues were sent to Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in praise of Bolton and contradicting other criticisms and allegations concerning his diplomatic style and his treatment of colleagues and staff.[149]

In late 2006, when his nomination was again before the Committee, another letter signed by professional colleagues supporting the renomination was sent to Senator Lugar.[150] A Wall Street Journal op ed by Claudia Rosett on December 5, 2006, said in part, "Bolton has been valiant in his efforts to clean up UN corruption and malfeasance, and follow UN procedure in dealing with such threats as a nuclear North Korea, a Hezbollah bid to take over Lebanon, and the nuclearization of Hezbollah's terror-masters in Iran. But it has been like watching one man trying to move a tsunami of mud