Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for top intelligence official, clears key Senate hurdle
The Senate voted to advance the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
WASHINGTON — The GOP-controlled Senate on Monday voted to advance the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, putting her on a path to be confirmed this week.
The party-line vote was 52-46, with all Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., did not vote. Last week, Gabbard’s nomination as the nation’s top-ranking intelligence official squeaked through the Senate Intelligence Committee on a party-line 9-8 vote.
“The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission, collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a floor speech Monday. "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."
A final vote on Gabbard would take place at midnight Tuesday, unless all senators reach an agreement to vote sooner. After that, Thune said the Senate would immediately hold a procedural vote on the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for health and human services secretary.
Monday's vote came despite concerns from Democrats and some Republicans about her 2017 secret meeting with then-President Bashar Assad of Syria; her past efforts to repeal a powerful government surveillance tool, known as Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702; and her previous support for Edward Snowden, a former government contractor who leaked classified information to the press about those spying programs.
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