Senate to vote on Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation for director of national intelligence

Washington — The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation for director of national intelligence, after her nomination survived a crucial committee vote last week and cleared a key procedural hurdle Monday.

Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic congresswoman who represented Hawaii in the House from 2013 to 2021, and sought the party’s nomination for president in the 2020 election. In 2022, she opted to leave the party, and she endorsed President Trump’s 2024 White House bid. 

Gabbard was previously seen as one of the most unlikely of Mr. Trump’s picks to get through the Senate. Though she served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, Gabbard doesn’t have a background in intelligence. And she faced scrutiny for meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017, as well as her comments about Russia’s war in Ukraine, her previous opposition to renewing a key government surveillance authority and a push to pardon National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

During her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee last month, Gabbard was grilled by both Democrats and Republicans on many of the actions and positions that have sparked controversy, with the most contentious moments of the hearing surrounding whether she would characterize Snowden as a “traitor.” Gabbard declined to say so.

But as the committee prepared to hold a vote on whether to advance Gabbard’s nomination last week, possible GOP opposition fell by the wayside. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana both pledged to back Gabbard, and her nomination eked through with a 9-8 vote along party lines to recommend her confirmation.

The full Senate went on to advance Gabbard’s nomination 52-46 in a party-line procedural vote Monday night, though Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania did not vote. The vote started the clock on up to 30 hours of debate before a vote on final passage, setting up a vote on final passage in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday that was pushed back until later Wednesday amid snowy conditions in Washington. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised Gabbard ahead of the procedural vote Monday, calling her “a patriot” who is “motivated by service.”

“The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission — collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information,” Thune said. “That’s what Tulsi Gabbard is committed to ensuring if she is confirmed to be DNI. And I believe she has the knowledge and leadership capabilities to get it done.”

At her confirmation hearing, Gabbard defended her qualifications, citing her experience as a battalion commander and service on the Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees in Congress. That experience, she said, has “given me a deep understanding of the complex challenges that our nation faces.”

“In both roles engaging with world leaders, in both roles being privy to highly classified intelligence,” Gabbard said. “So I know first hand how essential accurate, unbiased and timely intelligence is to the president, to Congress and to our warfighters. I also know the heavy cost of intelligence failures and abuses.”

Gabbard argued that “for too long, faulty, inadequate or weaponized intelligence have led to costly failures, and the undermining of our national security and god-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution,” adding that Mr. Trump’s victory in the 2024 election is “a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure.”

“If confirmed as DNI, I will do my very best to fulfill this mandate, and bring leadership to the intelligence community with a laser-like focus on our essential mission — ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said.

contributed to this report.