Tulsi Gabbard wins over Republicans, clears the obstacle of the Senate

Photo: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images

For weeks, Tulsi GabbardThe nomination of serving as National Intelligence Director seemed in danger since several Republican senators expressed strong reserves about their past grades and positions. But one by one, those opposite voices have fallen online. And on Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 9-8 to advance Gabbard to a full-floor vote.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Gabbard managed to ensure the support of several key Republicans, including senators Susan Collins de Maine and Todd Young from Indiana, two members of the Committee. Both senators, who were discouraged by Gabbard’s past support for complainant Edward Snowden, said Gabbard personally gave them guarantees in their individual conversations. Gabbard’s nomination is now addressed to the entire Senate for a vote, where he can afford to lose only three Republicans. But given the support of Collins and Young, the success of their nomination is almost certain. The vote on Gabbard occurred only a few hours after another Senate committee voted in favor of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.President Donald TrumpNominated for the Secretary of Health and Human Services faced by yours contentious confirmation process.

In a field of controversial nominees presented by Trump, Gabbard presented a particularly difficult challenge for the Senate Republicans who seek to support the president’s agenda. The former Hawaii representative has taken numerous positions in disagreement with the legislators whose votes he has courted, including support for Snowden and the past opposition of a government surveillance program used abroad. The senators had also expressed concern about a trip in 2017 that Gabbard took to Syria, where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was recently deposed.

Last week, Gabbard faced hours of interrogation of the committee in a audience That, sometimes, got tense. While Gabbard gave that Snowden violated the law when he leaked classified information of the National Security Agency, she refused to call him a traitor despite the instance of the members on both sides of the corridor.