Republicans Confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard — the one-time Democratic representative turned Fox News pundit and Trump loyalist — is the latest of the president’s Cabinet picks to clear the confirmation process despite a lack of qualifications and uniquely troubling views. Gabbard will serve as his Director of National Intelligence, a position in which she will oversee more than a dozen U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and NSA, and will be responsible for Trump’s briefings on classified intel.
The Senate advanced Gabbard’s nomination in a Monday vote along party lines, 52-46, with one senator from each party (Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman) not voting. The Senate confirmed her in a 52-48 vote on Wednesday, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joining Democrats in opposing the nomination. McConnell also notably voted against confirmed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) both voted for Gabbard despite opposing Hegseth.
McConnell released a statement on his opposition shortly after the vote went final. “The Senate’s power of advice and consent is not an option; it is an obligation, and one we cannot pretend to misunderstand. When a nominee’s record proves them unworthy of the highest public trust, and when their command of relevant policy falls short of the requirements of their office, the Senate should withhold its consent,” he wrote.”
“The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment,” McConnell added.
One of several extreme Trump nominees alongside newly minted Secretary of Defense Hegseth, Department of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, FBI nominee Kash Patel, and others, Gabbard was hardly guaranteed the job. She faced skepticism from both sides of the aisle due to her habit of amplifying Russian propaganda (she has defended Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and ex-staffers claim she regularly consumed Kremlin state media). In 2017, Gabbard met Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was deposed in December, and opposed the overthrow of his government, casting doubt on its war crimes, including the use of chemical weapons against civilians. An Iraq veteran serving since 2021 as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, she typically framed such comments as part of an anti-war stance, arguing that the U.S. should keep out of conflicts abroad.
Gabbard was grilled on her seeming support for Assad and Putin during her confirmation hearing, as well as her defense of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. (In years past, Gabbard has also argued that the prosecution of WikiLeaks founded Julian Assange was an attack on the freedom of the press.) While she dodged questions from Democrats and Republicans alike about whether she considers Snowden a traitor, she said he had broken the law, and she reversed her position on a potential pardon. She flipped as well on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to conduct warant-less monitoring of communications of foreigners overseas, a law she had once fought to repeal. Because of FISA reforms, Gabbard claimed, she now backs the program, calling it “crucial” to U.S. intelligence services.
Last week, Gabbard’s nomination survived a 9-8 vote to proceed through the Senate Intelligence Committee, though Republican defections in a full floor vote remained a possibility. Instead, GOP legislators appeased Trump by backing her as the top-ranking intelligence official in the nation, unwilling to defy the president even in the face of doubts about her iffy politics and lack of relevant experience. Gabbard has not held a role in any of the agencies she will be leading, bringing a résumé that consists only of military service and four terms representing Hawaii’s 2nd District in the House of Representatives. Concerned intelligence experts have called her historically unfit for DNI.
Nevertheless, in her capacity as a top adviser to Trump, she could shape his worldview in matters of surveillance, spying, and high-level statecraft. The question raised and later dismissed by Senate Republicans is which ti parties might be influencing these views.
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