Former Consultant Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of nationwide intelligence, attends to testify earlier than a Senate Intelligence Committee affirmation listening to on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
WASHINGTON — The GOP-controlled Senate early Wednesday morning voted to substantiate Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence, placing the previous congresswoman in command of the sprawling U.S. intelligence group.
The 52-48 vote was largely alongside celebration traces, with almost all Republicans current voting in favor of Gabbard. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the previous longtime GOP chief who has clashed with Trump, was the one Republican who joined all Democrats in voting in opposition to her.
Gabbard’s affirmation is a win for Trump and represents yet one more instance of his dominance over the GOP, the place few have proven a willingness to step out of line.
After Trump introduced Gabbard as his DNI choose in November, Democrats — and a handful of Republicans — voiced critical issues about her 2017 secret assembly with then-President Bashar Assad of Syria; her sympathetic feedback about Russia; her previous efforts to repeal a robust authorities surveillance instrument, often known as International Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Part 702; and her earlier help for Edward Snowden, a former authorities contractor who leaked categorized data to the press about these spying applications.
Earlier than her nomination, Gabbard had argued that Snowden must be pardoned. However showing earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee at a affirmation listening to final month, Gabbard reversed course, saying she wouldn’t push for Snowden to be pardoned or obtain clemency, at the same time as she refused to name the previous Nationwide Safety Company contractor a “traitor” when pressed by GOP senators.
As well as, Gabbard backed off her sharp criticism of Part 702 in the course of the listening to, calling it a “essential” instrument after Congress handed new protections final yr.
In the long run, not a single Senate Republican bucked Trump and voted no on Gabbard. Average Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Intelligence Committee and a key GOP swing vote, was one of many Republicans who had raised issues about Gabbard however threw her help behind her simply days after her affirmation listening to. Collins helped creator the 2004 laws that established the DNI place.
“The Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence … has turn out to be far bigger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my imaginative and prescient of returning the company to its supposed dimension,” Collins stated in an announcement this month. “In response to my questions throughout our dialogue in my workplace and on the open listening to, in addition to by way of her rationalization on the closed listening to earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ms. Gabbard addressed my issues relating to her views on Edward Snowden.”
Democrats have been sharply important of Gabbard, suggesting Republicans have been extra involved about not angering Trump than nationwide safety.
“As a substitute of talking truth and fact, Ms. Gabbard repeatedly speaks the language of falsities and conspiracy theories,” Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated on the ground Tuesday. “The director of nationwide intelligence should be sturdy in opposition to America’s adversaries. However Ms Gabbard has spent her complete profession sympathizing with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Bashar Al Assad.”
The director of nationwide intelligence oversees the 18 businesses that make up the U.S. intelligence group, together with the Central Intelligence Company and Nationwide Safety Company. The DNI additionally advises the president on intelligence issues.
Gabbard, 43, an Iraq warfare veteran, has served for greater than twenty years within the Military Reserve. She had beforehand been a longtime Hawaii Democrat, serving within the state Home and on the Honolulu Metropolis Council. She went on to signify Hawaii within the Home of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. After she unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Gabbard endorsed Joe Biden over Trump.
However she soured on the Biden administration and left the Democratic Occasion in 2022. Final October, Gabbard introduced she was becoming a member of the Republican Occasion and endorsed Trump, showing with him on the marketing campaign path within the run-up to the 2024 election.
Senate to vote on advancing RFK Jr.’s well being secretary bid
The Senate additionally deliberate to carry a key procedural vote Wednesday on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s unorthodox choose for well being and human companies secretary. If Kennedy can win a easy majority, he might be confirmed by Thursday morning.
Some Republicans have expressed skepticism about Kennedy given his previous opposition to vaccines and help for abortion. However throughout a shaky efficiency at his affirmation listening to final month, Kennedy stated he now believes “vaccines have a important function in well being care.” Requested about his place on abortion, he replied: “I agree with President Trump that each abortion is a tragedy,” including that abortion legal guidelines must be left to the states.
Final week, Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., a doctor and chairman of the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee who was seen a vital swing vote, introduced his help for RFK Jr. after saying he extracted a half dozen key concessions from the nominee.
In Cassidy’s phrases, RFK and the Trump administration dedicated to “shield the general public well being advantage of vaccination.” RFK additionally dedicated to having a “shut collaborative working relationship” with Cassidy, the senator stated, the place they may communicate a number of occasions a month. RFK can even seem earlier than the HELP committee on a quarterly foundation if wanted, Cassidy stated.
