Senate advances Gabbard's nomination to become DNI [View all]

Source: Roll Call

Posted February 10, 2025 at 7:32pm


Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee to become director of national intelligence, is one step closer to confirmation after the Senate crossed a procedural hurdle Monday. Senators voted 52-46 to approve a cloture motion on Gabbard’s nomination. The vote on confirmation could come as soon as late Tuesday unless members agree to shorten the time for debate.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., praised Gabbard in a floor speech ahead of the vote, highlighting her “plans to focus on identifying and eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies” as well as her intent to prosecute leakers “to the full extent of the law.” “In recent years, there have been some significant intelligence failures, and these failures aren’t confined to one agency or one part of the world,” Thune said. “The intelligence community needs to refocus on its core mission: collecting intelligence and providing unbiased analysis of that information. That’s what Tulsi Gabbard is committed to ensuring if she is confirmed.”

Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in the House as a Democrat for eight years, faced bipartisan scrutiny during a confirmation hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee last month. Chief among lawmakers’ concerns was her support for whistleblower Edward Snowden and a 2017 trip to Syria in which she met with then-leader Bashar Assad.

But Republicans moved her through the committee on a party-line vote. The Monday cloture vote was also along party lines, with Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., missing the vote. Democrats on Monday again raised concerns about Gabbard. Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., said ahead of the vote that his concerns about Gabbard’s potential confirmation have been heightened by recent Trump administration actions impacting intelligence and related agencies.

Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/02/10/senate-advances-gabbards-nomination-to-become-dni/