Former Senate Republican Chief Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Wednesday voted in opposition to confirming former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) to function the nation’s prime intelligence official, sending a powerful message to fellow GOP senators, a few of whom privately doubted her {qualifications} to carry the job.
McConnell was the one Republican senator to vote in opposition to Gabbard, who got here underneath heavy scrutiny over her previous opposition to expanded surveillance authority underneath the Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Act and her refusal to name former authorities contractor Edward Snowden a traitor for stealing 1.5 million labeled doc.
The Kentucky lawmaker flagged Gabbard’s refusal to label Snowden a “traitor” as a severe concern.
“Edward Snowden’s treasonous betrayal of the United States and its most sensitive lawful intelligence activities endangered sources, methods and lives,” he mentioned in a press release after the vote.
He additionally denounced Russia’s “unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine” as one thing that threatens American pursuits and is “solely the responsibility for Vladimir Putin.”
“Entrusting the coordination of the intelligence community to someone who struggles to acknowledge these facts is an unnecessary risk,” he mentioned.
McConnell questioned Gabbard’s evolving views on Part 702 of the Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes expanded surveillance that accounts for 60 p.c of the intelligence within the president’s each day briefing.
Gabbard launched laws to repeal FISA’s Part 702 when she served within the Home, however head of her Senate affirmation listening to mentioned it had been fastened and referred to as it a “vital” nationwide safety device.
McConnell mentioned it could be risking to “empowering a DNI who only acknowledged the value of critical intelligence collection authorities when her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy.”
McConnell voted on Monday in favor of a procedural movement to advance Gabbard’s nomination to a remaining up-or-down vote.
The Senate confirmed her by a vote of 52-48. In her new function, she’s going to lead the nation’s 18 intelligence companies and oversee the President Trump’s each day intelligence briefing.
McConnell final month additionally solid a shock “no” vote on Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, forcing Vice President Vance to interrupt a tie to substantiate him. He had voted to advance Hegseth to the ultimate vote.
The remainder of the Senate GOP convention ignored pleas from Democrats to reject Gabbard on the grounds that she lacked the judgment and {qualifications} to steer tens of 1000’s of intelligence officers around the globe.
“I feel so strongly I just wanted to make one last plea to my Republican colleagues,” Senate Democratic Chief Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) mentioned earlier than the vote.
“We simply cannot in good conscience trust our most classified secrets to someone who echoes Russian propaganda and falls for conspiracy theories,” he mentioned.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed to Gabbard siding in 2017 with deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s declare that he didn’t use chemical weapons in opposition to his personal individuals when U.S. intelligence overwhelmingly concluded that he did.
Warner and different critics of Gabbard’s nomination additionally highlighted Gabbard’s tweet throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 criticizing then President Biden for not being extra delicate to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s considerations about Ukraine doubtlessly becoming a member of NATO.
“She blamed NATO for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” Warner mentioned on the ground. “Despite a unanimous assessment of [U.S. intelligence] she said that Bashar Al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people,” he mentioned.
“I don’t know if it was defend those dictators or if she was unaware of the intelligence or how [those] statements would be perceived. In any case, it calls into question her judgment,” he mentioned.
