Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to become director of national intelligence, cleared a key procedural hurdle on Monday to advance her nomination toward a final Senate vote.
The Republican-led chamber, requiring only a simple majority, voted 52-46 to clear a procedural step and set the stage for confirmation later in the week.
Gabbard’s advancement comes despite a heated confirmation hearing in which senators on the intelligence panel dove into her record from the eight years she spent in Congress, dissecting her previous comments about a range of subjects including infamous Natioanl Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the now-defunct Assad regime in Syria, and her previous criticism of a key law for intelligence collection.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle gave Gabbard more than a half-dozen chances to withdraw her past support of Snowden, who leaked classified documents and escaped prosecution by moving to Russia, but she didn’t take them. Instead, Gabbard repeated that Snowden “broke the law” but declined to call him a traitor. She also mentioned that he exposed “egregious, illegal, and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government.”
The former congresswoman from Hawaii received a major boost after a number of Republican senators announced they’d vote for Gabbard, which allowed her nomination to advance out of the Senate Intelligence panel.
Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), James Lankford (R-OK), and Jerry Moran (R-KS) appeared at one time to have concerns about Gabbard’s views on several key matters. However, the four indicated they feel more comfortable moving forward with the nomination after a closed session and further conversation.
The GOP senators have been facing a wave of political pressure from Trump allies. Newly confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe, former Sen. Richard Burr, and former NSA adviser Robert O’Brien made calls to senators on Gabbard’s behalf, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, has also spoken to senators since her hearing, the source said. Vice President JD Vance also worked to get GOP colleagues on board.
Democrats still don’t believe she has truly changed her view of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which many consider crucial for gathering foreign intelligence.
“I do understand that after she was nominated to DNI, she had a conversion, a confirmation conversion, and expressed a change of heart,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a speech on the Senate floor. “Now, that’s welcome, but not credible. Just last May, she criticized the reforms we put into 702.”
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The passage of the cloture motion means there will be 30 hours of debate on the Senate floor, setting up Gabbard’s final confirmation vote on Wednesday when the debate time expires. There is not likely to be a time agreement between Republicans and Democrats to speed up the process.
The Republican Party has a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, which means any of Trump’s Cabinet nominees can only afford to lose three Republicans’ support and still get confirmed. There are still several Republican senators to watch during the floor vote, including Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and John Curtis (R-UT), who have not indicated how they will vote on her final nomination vote.