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The Senate Intelligence Committee voted Tuesday to advance Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as director of national intelligence, with Republicans backing her unanimously despite some having expressed unease with her foreign policy views.
Gabbard’s nomination now heads to a full Senate vote. Republicans have said they are confident she will have enough votes to be confirmed as President Donald Trump’s intelligence chief.
Gabbard, whose nomination appeared to be on shaky ground after her hearing before the committee last week, won two crucial GOP votes in the eleventh hour. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana, both of whom were seen as on the fence on Gabbard, voiced their support for the nominee less than 24 hours before the committee voted in a closed-door session.
Gabbard faced intense questioning before the intelligence panel in her hearing Thursday. Republicans and Democrats pressed her on her past comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin and her views on Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor behind one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in U.S. history.
She repeatedly declined to say if she believed Snowden was a “traitor,” earning the ire of Democratic senators in particular. Several Republicans also appeared troubled by Gabbard’s answers.
Trump said Monday that he was in touch with Republican senators about their concerns regarding Gabbard.
“I’ve gotten [a] great response,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “They want to do what’s right. ... I think we’ll do well.”
Later that day, Collins released a statement declaring her support for the Democrat-turned-Republican, saying that Gabbard addressed her concerns about her views on Snowden and that they agree that the DNI needed downsizing.
On Tuesday morning ahead of the committee vote, Young similarly said he would support Gabbard’s nomination, citing a letter from her in which she commits to “checking my own views at the door” if confirmed to the role.
Earlier Tuesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another Trump Cabinet pick who had been seen as a toss-up, cleared a committee vote for his nomination for health secretary after securing the support of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy.