WASHINGTON – The GOP-controlled Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm President Donald Trump’s National Intelligence Director Tarcigabad, and gave former lawmakers the vast US intelligence community.
The 52-48 votes were primarily along the party line, but almost all Republicans presented their vote in favor of Gabbard. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a former longtime GOP leader who clashed with Trump, was the only Republican to vote for her and join all Democrats.
Gabbard’s confirmation is a victory for Trump, representing yet another example of his advantage over the GOP.
After Trump announced Gabbard as his DNI pick in November, Democrats and a few Republicans expressed serious concern about the 2017 secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Her sympathetic comments about Russia. Her past efforts to abolish a powerful government surveillance tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Report Surveillance Act. And her previous support for former government contractor Edward Snowden leaked confidential information to the press about those spy programs.
Before her appointment, Gabbard had insisted that Snowden should be pardoned. However, Gabbard, who appeared before the Senate Intelligence Email Committee at a confirmation hearing last month, reversed the course and refused to call former National Security Agency contractors “traitors,” but Snowden was pardoned. by the GOP Senator who said he would not ask for his generosity or accept it.
Additionally, Gabbard retreated her sharp criticism of Section 702 during the hearing, calling it a “significant” tool after Congress passed new protections last year.
In the end, McConnell was the only Republican to defeat Trump and vote no for Gabbard. In a long, poignant statement after the vote, McConnell said it was clear that Gabbard was not prepared for the job, indicating a “happy history of failure in judgment.”
“The power of Senate advice and consent is not an option. It is an obligation and cannot be pretended to be misunderstood. Proves that candidate records are not suitable for the best public trust to them, and the relevant policies are in the form of the policy. If the order does not meet the requirements of their office, the Senate should withhold that consent,” McConnell said. China’s invasion and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“My assessment is that Tulsi Gabbard has failed to demonstrate that he is ready to assume this incredible public trust.”
Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the intelligence report committee and a major vote on the GOP swing, was one of the Republicans who raised concerns about Gabbard, but a few days after the confirmation hearing. I threw her support. Collins helped write the 2004 law that established his position in DNI.
“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is much bigger than it was designed, and Gabbard shares my vision to bring the agency back to its intended size,” Collins said in a statement this month. I did. “In response to my questions during discussions at my office and at public hearings, Mr. Gabbard said, through her account at the closed hearing before the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, I relate to her views on Edward Snowden. addressed concerns.”
Democrats are highly critical of Gabbard, suggesting that Republicans are more concerned about not angering Trump than national security.
“Instead of telling facts and truths, Gabbard repeatedly speaks the language of falsehood and conspiracy theories,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said on the floor Tuesday. “The Director of the National Intelligence Bureau must be strong against the American enemy, but Gabbard has spent her entire career sympathy with things like Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. .”
The Director of National Intelligence oversees the 18 institutions that make up the US intelligence reporting agency, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. The DNI also advises the President on intelligence reports.
Gabbard, 43, a veteran of the Iraq War, has served in the Army Reserve for more than 20 years. She was a longtime Hawaii Democrat and worked for the State Capitol and Honolulu City Council. She continued to represent Hawaii in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. After becoming the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Gabbard supported Joe Biden more than Trump.
However, she stinks in the Biden administration and left the Democrats in 2022. Last October, Gabbard joined the Republican Party, supporting Trump and appeared with him in the preparations for the 2024 election.
Senate votes to advance health secretary bids for RFK Jr.
The Senate also voted along the party line on Wednesday, moving forward with the nomination of Trump’s unorthodox pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A 53-47 vote will bring Kennedy on the road to be confirmed by Thursday morning.
Some Republicans have expressed skepticism about past opposition to the vaccine and Kennedy, who was given support for abortion. However, amid a volatile performance at last month’s confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he currently believes “vaccines play an important role in health care.” Asked about his position on abortion, he replied, “I agree with President Trump that all abortions are tragic.”
Last week, Sen. Bill Cassidy, physician and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced his support for RFK Jr. after seeing an important swing vote. Important concessions from candidates.
In Cassidy’s words, the RFK and the Trump administration “promised to protect the public health benefits of vaccination. RFK also promised to have a “close collaborative relationship” with Cassidy, the Senate Lawmakers said they will talk multiple times a month. The RFK will appear before the cooperation committee quarterly when necessary, Cassidy said.
