Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee US spy agencies, clears Senate committee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday despite concerns raised about her past comments sympathetic to Russia and a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader.

A former Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard is one of Trump’s most divisive nominees, with lawmakers of both parties also pointing to her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden. But the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced her nomination in a closed-door 9-8 vote, with the committee’s Democrats voting no.

Gabbard’s nomination now heads to the full Senate for consideration. A vote has not been scheduled yet.

Following a contentious confirmation hearing last week, where some Republican senators questioned Gabbard harshly, GOP support for her fell into place following a pressure campaign over the weekend unleashed by Trump supporters and allies, including Elon Musk.

Until three GOP members seen as swing votes announced their support, it wasn’t clear her nomination would advance beyond the Intelligence Committee. Given strong Democratic opposition and thin Republican margins, Gabbard will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes to win confirmation to the top intelligence job.

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Though some Republicans have questioned Gabbard’s past views, they support her calls to overhaul the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates the work of 18 federal agencies focused on intelligence collection and analysis. GOP lawmakers have also taken aim at the office, saying it’s grown too large and politicized.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said Tuesday that he looked forward to working with Gabbard to “bring badly needed reforms” to ODNI.

Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.

Gabbard’s past praise of Snowden drew particularly harsh questions during the nomination hearing. The former National Security Agency contractor fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.

Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.

A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another flash point. Assad was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.

Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.

She has also repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S. surveillance program.

Democrats said Gabbard’s response to questions about her past views did little to satisfy them. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said Gabbard lacks the judgment to take on a job that is so critical to the nation’s security.

“Healthy skepticism is a good thing, but when someone consistently embraces sensational, but poorly supported claims while dismissing the thorough assessments of our intelligence community, it becomes dangerous,” Kelly said in a statement explaining his vote. “But rather than ease my concerns, she confirmed them.”

In the latest instance of the “Make America Great Again” base pressuring senators to support Trump’s nominees, Musk blasted Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana as a “deep-state puppet” in a now-deleted social media post before the two men spoke and Musk later called him an ally.

Young, whose critical questioning of Gabbard had prompted speculation he might oppose her, confirmed Tuesday he would back Gabbard. Young said his tough questions for Gabbard were just part of the process.

“I have done what the framers envisioned for senators to do: use the consultative process to seek firm commitments, in this case commitments that will advance our national security,” he wrote in statement announcing his support for Gabbard.