NBC News (“Senate votes to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as top U.S. intelligence official“):
The GOP-controlled Senate early Wednesday morning voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, putting the former congresswoman in charge of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community.
The 52-48 vote was largely along party lines, with nearly all Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former longtime GOP leader who has clashed with Trump, was the only Republican who joined all Democrats in voting against her.
Gabbard’s confirmation is a win for Trump and represents yet another example of his dominance over the GOP, where few have shown a willingness to step out of line.
After Trump announced Gabbard as his DNI pick in November, Democrats — and a handful of Republicans — voiced serious concerns about her 2017 secret meeting with then-President Bashar Assad of Syria; her sympathetic comments about Russia; 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.
Before her nomination, Gabbard had argued that Snowden should be pardoned. But appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee at a confirmation hearing last month, Gabbard reversed course, saying she would not push for Snowden to be pardoned or receive clemency, even as she refused to call the former National Security Agency contractor a “traitor” when pressed by GOP senators.
In addition, Gabbard backed off her sharp criticism of Section 702 during the hearing, calling it a “crucial” tool after Congress passed new protections last year.
In the end, McConnell was the sole Republican to buck Trump and vote no on Gabbard. In a scathing, lengthy statement after the vote, McConnell said it was apparent Gabbard was not prepared for the job and demonstrated a “history of alarming lapses in judgment.”
“The Senate’s power of advice and consent is not an option; it is an obligation, and one we cannot pretend to misunderstand. When a nominee’s record proves them unworthy of the highest public trust, and when their command of relevant policy falls short of the requirements of their office, the Senate should withhold its consent,” McConnell said, specifically sounding the alarm about Gabbard’s remarks about Snowden, Chinese aggression and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Alas, it was too little, too late. McConnell had multiple opportunities to put the national interest ahead of fealty to Trump during his tenure as Senate Leader and failed to do so.
Trump nominated many manifestly unqualified people to top positions in national security and law enforcement. There was hope that at least some of them would be rejected. So far, they’ve rubber stamped all of them, with only Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI Director yet to be confirmed. I have no doubt that he will be.
