Tulsi Gabbard confirmed by Senate as Trump’s national intelligence director

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence, adding the former Democrat to President Donald Trump's inner circle after lawmakers raised pointed 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.

Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman, secured confirmation on a 52-48 vote. In her new role, Gabbard will oversee the 18 agencies within the U.S. Intelligence community, serving as the president's top adviser on intelligence matters.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said on social media after the vote that Gabbard would be sworn in at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

The 43-year-old's confirmation comes after a tense hearing on Jan. 30 before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which later voted along party lines to sign off on her nomination.

Before joining the Trump administration, Gabbard, who was born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii, represented Hawaii in the U.S. House as a Democrat for four terms from 2013 to 2021. She ran for president as a Democrat but left the party in 2022 and changed her affiliation to Republican when she began campaigning for Trump last fall. She is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and served in Iraq.

During the confirmation process, Democratic senators − including those on the Senate Intelligence Committee − homed in on Gabbard's 2017 visit to Syria to meet then-president Assad. Critics blasted the meeting saying it legitimized Assad four years after he used lethal chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.

Senate Democrats also expressed concern about pro-Russia talking points Gabbard has espoused in the years since. 

Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the only Republican to vote against Gabbard's confirmation, said in a statement that Gabbard was not ready for the job.

"In my assessment, Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust," McConnell said. “The nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the President receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment."

Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis, also considered a potential "no," said shortly before the vote that he had decided to back Gabbard.

“Anyone that followed my process knows my vote wasn’t predetermined, but the fact that my trusted colleagues in the intelligence community supported her was significant,” he said on X.

Several Republicans said that Trump deserves to have the people he chose in leadership roles.

"I am very glad to support Tulsi Gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “Every president deserves their team. Tulsi has the trust of President Trump, and I’m sure she will serve him well.”

Gabbard's nomination was also met with alarm by some members of the intelligence establishment – nearly 100 former intelligence and national security officials, including ex-CIA agents and deputy secretaries of state,  signed a letter urging senators to examine records on Gabbard behind closed doors.

Gabbard's "sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Assad raises questions about her judgment and fitness," they wrote.

During her confirmation hearing, Gabbard also refused to agree with the idea that Snowden, who stole and leaked volumes of top-secret U.S. intelligence information, was a traitor. Despite repeated questions from Democrats about why she had expressed past support for Snowden, Gabbard would only say that he "broke the law."