Tulsi Gabbard wins Senate panel OK to be Trump national intel ...

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Senate panel votes for Gabbard for National Intelligence director

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted nine to eight to endorse nominee Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee narrowly endorsed Tulsi Gabbard to become director of national intelligence after skeptical Republicans threw their support behind President Donald Trump's controversial nominee to the sensitive Cabinet-level position.

The committee recommended Gabbard to the intelligence post 9-to-8.

The approval sets up a vote in the full U.S. Senate, where Gabbard is likely to be confirmed with Republican-only votes. It follows a tense hearing before the committee where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle asked probing questions about her views on Russia, ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified information.

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Gabbard, a former House Democrat from Hawaii who ran for her party's presidential nomination in 2020, said Snowden "broke the law," but would not say he was a traitor. She also defended her 2017 trip to Syria, saying it was an opportunity to ask Assad "tough questions" about the regime's actions and told a Republican senator she was "offended" by a question about whether Russia would get a pass from her.

Gabbard's confirmation appeared to be in jeopardy after the hearing, but Monday, on the eve of the committee's closed-door discussion, two Republicans who had considered swing votes said they'd back her.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, who sit on the Intelligence Committee, said Gabbard had addressed their concerns privately.

Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young, considered the last holdout, also voted for Gabbard.

Young had been under political pressure to support Gabbard from Trump allies, including Vice President JD Vance. "I appreciate Tulsi Gabbard’s engagement with me on a variety of issues to ensure that our intelligence professionals will be supported and policymakers will receive unbiased information under her leadership," Young said on X before the vote.

Young said shortly before the vote that the White House, specifically Vice President JD Vance, helped to address questions he still had about Gabbard.

“This is how the process is supposed to work,” Young told reporters. “It's supposed to be a consultative process and we got the reassurances we needed.”

Young said he also had a “very positive” conversation with Trump that lasted less than 15 minutes.

“There was never an intimation that there would be a problem,” he said of his talks with both leaders.

Gabbard represented Hawaii in the House of Representatives and ran for president as a Democrat but left the party in 2022 and changed her affiliation to Republican as she campaigned for Trump last fall. She is an Army veteran. If confirmed to the DNI role, she will oversee the U.S. Intelligence community, serving as the president's top adviser on intelligence matters.

(This story was updated to include a clarification.)