Senate Postpones Hearing On Lake

A Senate committee again postponed a hearing on Anthony Lake’s nomination as CIA director Tuesday, citing evidence that his aides met with a Thai businesswoman who contributed to the Democratic Party.

Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a one-page announcement that the confirmation hearing will be moved back two weeks, from Feb. 25 to March 11.

“After consulting with other concerned members of the committee, I have decided to postpone the hearings,” Shelby, R-Ala., said. He cited “detailed questions” that Lake has yet to answer about his actions over the last four years as Clinton’s national security adviser.

The questions, Shelby said, concern “National Security Council contacts with foreign political fund-raisers,” Lake’s failure to divest energy stocks after being instructed to do so, his role in the tacit U.S. support for Iranian arms transfers to Bosnia and the lack of an administration response to Chinese missile exports to Pakistan.