(Headline USA) Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday despite opposition from her former party that focused largely on bogus—and all too familiar—claims that she was a Russian spy.
The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced the former Democratic congresswoman’s nomination in a closed-door 9-8 vote, with the all of the committee’s Democrats voting no.
Gabbard’s nomination now heads to the full Senate for consideration. A vote has not been scheduled yet.
During a contentious confirmation hearing last week, some Republican senators questioned Gabbard. However, 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.
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.
Gabbard’s past praise of deep-state whistleblower Edward 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.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
