Senate tees up final vote on Tulsi Gabbard nomination to be nation's intelligence chief
The Senate voted largely along party lines Monday evening to advance Tulsi Gabbard's nomination to serve as President Trump’s director of national intelligence (DNI), putting her on a glide path to confirmation later this week.
The 52-46 vote brings the Senate’s two-month debate over Gabbard’s qualifications and unorthodox national security views close to an end.
When confirmed on Tuesday or Wednesday, she will be in charge of putting together President Trump’s daily intelligence brief and leading approximately 1,750 employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in McLean, Virginia. She will oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies.
Trump tapped her for the nation’s top intelligence job because he viewed her as a disruptor who will take on Washington’s entrenched establishment, a major reason why he picked former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Defense.
She advanced through the Senate despite significant Republican skepticism thanks to the unwavering support of Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a highly respected voice on national security issues within the GOP conference, who repeatedly vouched for her patriotism.
He repeatedly emphasized her years of military service and multiple combat tours. He admonished colleagues at the start of her confirmation hearing not to “impugn” her patriotism or integrity.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he didn’t question her patriotism but had grave doubts about her “judgment” and relevant leadership experience.
Warner questioned Gabbard’s willingness to stand up to Trump as members of his administration pressure senior FBI officials and other intelligence and counterterrorism officials to resign amid a purge of the nation’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Gabbard came under heavy scrutiny after Trump nominated her in mid-November because of a secret trip she took in 2017 to meet with then-President Bashar Assad and because of her past support for repealing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which authorizes expanded surveillance powers that accounts for up to 60 percent of the intelligence in the daily presidential brief.
She also faced questions about past statements that seemed to echo Russia’s rationale for invading Ukraine in 2022, such as arguing on the social media site X that the Biden administration could have avoided the war by acknowledging “Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO.”
Warner raised that and other past statements before the procedural vote on Gabbard Monday.
“Gabbard has excused our adversaries worst actions. For example, she blamed NATO for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
He also cited her claim that Assad didn’t use chemical weapons against his own people despite a “unanimous assessment” by U.S. intelligence officials during Trump’s first term that he did so.
Gabbard faced tough questions at her confirmation hearing over her co-sponsorship of a bill with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) calling for charges to be dropped against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden who stole 1.5 million classified documents.
Her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy after she refused to call Snowden a traitor despite pointed questioning from Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) at her confirmation hearing.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), another member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also raised questions about Gabbard, especially about her views of expanded surveillance authority under FISA’s Section 702.
Collins, however, said she felt reassured by Gabbard’s promise that she would not advocate for a pardon for Snowden and her desire to cut down the size of the director of national intelligence’s office.
The Maine senator said the office had “become far larger than it was designed to be.”
Collins, Lankford and Young all voted last week to report Gabbard out of the Intelligence Committee and to the floor, overcoming the staunch opposition of Democrats.
Other Republican senators said they felt reassured by what Gabbard told them about her evolving view of FISA’s Section 702 and willingness to support expanded surveillance powers.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said that Gabbard had told lawmakers that she wanted to repeal Section 702 when she served in the House because she wanted to see changes made to the program, and those reforms have since been implemented.
Two Republicans who were thought to be wavering on Gabbard’s nomination, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and John Curtis (R-Utah), both voted to advance her nomination on the Senate floor Monday.
McConnell, however, also voted in favor of a procedural motion advance Pete Hegseth’s nomination to serve secretary of Defense but later opposed him on the final confirmation vote.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted against Hegseth to head the Pentagon, also voted for Gabbard.
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