Congress
In a first for a Trump nominee, Gabbard gets a not-so-friendly reception from Republicans
Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, came into her nomination hearing Thursday ready to parry a volley of attacks from Democrats. But they weren’t the only ones asking the tough questions.
A number of Republicans seemed skeptical about Gabbard’s answers to questions about NSA contractor Edward Snowden and a controversial surveillance program. They also prodded her about her previous statements on Russia, Syria and Ukraine. It was a marked difference from the hearing of now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth two weeks ago, in which Republicans heaped praise on the nominee and defended him from Democrats’ attacks.
While no Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said outright they were wavering on the former Democratic lawmaker, it was far from a bear hug. Among those testing Gabbard’s views Thursday were James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The lack of enthusiasm was not a promising sign for the former Democratic lawmaker. For weeks, Senate Republicans have said Gabbard needed a strong performance Thursday to clinch her nomination. The Senate Intelligence Committee is split 9-8 between the two parties, and Gabbard is not expected to pick up any votes from Democrats.
Young, one of the three members of the panel long viewed as a possible “no” on Gabbard heading into Thursday, offered up one of the most direct Republican jabs. It came after she sidestepped a stream of questions from members of both parties about whether she considered Snowden a traitor.
“I think it would befit you and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land around our intel authority,” he said.
Senators repeatedly reminded Gabbard that Snowden leaked reams of sensitive U.S. intelligence that endangered the lives of U.S. spies before he fled to Hong Kong and then Russia — to no avail.
Gabbard acknowledged Snowden broke the law but wouldn’t go further.
Since her surprise nomination two months ago, Gabbard has faced questions from Democrats but also some Republicans about her judgment, dovish foreign policy views and her lack of experience for the spy role.
Gabbard served for two decades in the military, is an Iraq war veteran, and has sat on the House Armed Services committee, but has never held a role at a U.S. spy agency.
Her nomination has been dogged by her past comments that echoed Kremlin talking points on NATO and the war in Ukraine; concern about a 2017 trip she took to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; and doubts she has raised about U.S. assessments of Assad’s use of chemical weapons in that war.
From the start, Gabbard set a combative and defiant tone.
In her opening statement, she characterized many of the allegations against her as “lies and smears,” and cited a laundry list of recent wrongs and failures within the U.S. intelligence community. She looked up at the senators on the panel as she ticked off each one — the investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia, the Iraq war, denials about the existence of controversial NSA surveillance programs, and more — and rarely looked flustered when she came under tough questioning later.
Gabbard tried to spin her unconventional foreign policy views as evidence she boasts the brand of independent thinking that is needed to fix the country’s supposedly broken and biased intelligence system.
The Republican who offered the strongest endorsement of that pitch was Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) the chair of the intelligence committee.
“Look where conventional thinking has gotten us,” he said in his opening statement, citing a slew of failed U.S. wars and military interventions in the Middle East that he tied to Barack Obama. “Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking.”
Gabbard had her share of not-so-breezy moments with other Republicans, however.
Lankford — who has said he would vote for Gabbard — Cornyn, and Moran each pushed Gabbard during the question and answer section of the hearing.
Moran at one point told Gabbard he needed to make certain that Russia would not “get a pass in either your mind or your heart” if she were confirmed as DNI. Gabbard parried: “Senator, I’m offended by the question,” and added that if confirmed, “no country or group or individual will get a pass.”
Lankford appeared irked by Gabbard’s deflections on Snowden.
“This is a big deal to everybody here, because it’s a big deal to everybody you’ll also oversee,” Lankford said at one point. “So, was Edward Snowden a traitor?”
Collins and Young also pressed her on the issue. Young at one point burnished a print-out of a social media post Thursday from Snowden.
Gabbard will be “required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation,” Snowden wrote. “I encourage her to do so.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee tends to have more bipartisanship than some other congressional panels. Democrats and Republicans generally share hawkish views on foreign policy and government surveillance, and committee votes are usually done behind closed doors.
For his part, Cornyn pushed Gabbard for more clarity on her views on the controversial Section 702 surveillance authority — which applies to foreigners’ communications but also sweeps up data on Americans. Gabbard, a privacy hawk while in Congress, in recent weeks reversed her opposition to Section 702 and said she supports it.
But Cornyn repeatedly attempted to pin Gabbard on whether the law should be reformed in certain ways to protect the privacy of Americans — something security hawks believe is unnecessary, and would cripple what they defend as their most powerful spy tool.
The clock ran out before he got a firm answer.
After the open hearing Thursday, Gabbard and the senators went behind closed doors for a follow-up session where they could talk freely about classified matters. What transpires there could prove decisive in the committee’s vote on Gabbard, which could come in the coming days.
Asked afterward how she was planning to vote, Collins said that she hadn’t made a decision yet. Moran sidestepped a question on if he would support her, and Young said nothing in response to questions as he left the classified portion.
If Gabbard does not secure a majority on the panel, there are other ways her confirmation can be brought to the Senate floor. But that is an unusual maneuver and would send a strong message that could sink her chances with those outside the committee.
Maggie Miller, Jordain Carney, Joe Gould and Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
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