Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) is emerging as a tough confirmation lift for President-elect Trump, even as other nominees such as Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for the Pentagon, run into serious hurdles.
Gabbard, Trump’s pick to become director of national intelligence (DNI), has received less attention in recent days compared to Hegseth, who has seen multiple bombshell reports pop up about his treatment of women, or Kash Patel, the president-elect’s controversial pick to lead the FBI.
But a number of aides and senators view her path as the most difficult of the three.
“I think Gabbard, out of the three, still has the toughest path,” one Senate GOP aide told The Hill, referring to Gabbard, Hegseth and Patel. “[She] is the most at risk.”
A number of GOP senators are skeptical about her foreign policy dealings and her trustworthiness in potentially heading the nation’s intelligence apparatus.
Although Gabbard is a favorite of Trump World, the Senate Republican Conference remains a different type of playing field, as it still contains a number of defense hawks and supporters of Ukraine in their ongoing war with Russia.
Some members of that crowd remain skeptical of Gabbard, especially due to her past remarks about the Ukraine war that were sympathetic to Moscow and echoed by Russian state media — which has also praised her selection as DNI.
She also has views on the Middle East that break with the political establishment of both parties. She has said that Syrian President Bashar Assad, who she controversially visited in 2017, is not an enemy of the U.S., though she later called him a “brutal dictator.”
“Behind closed doors, people think she might be compromised. Like it’s not hyperbole,” the aide continued. “There are members of our conference who think she’s a [Russian] asset.”
Republican senators in public have rejected that idea and have defended Gabbard in the wake of those charges.
Some top Democrats, such as House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), a onetime colleague of Gabbard’s in the House, also say they do not believe she is a Russian asset, but Gabbard is not expected to win Democratic votes in her confirmation.
That means she’ll need to lose no more than three GOP votes to get across the finish line.
“She’s not going to get any Democratic votes,” one Senate Republican said. “You can do the mental math.”
The ex-House member is by no means the only one with confirmation troubles potentially coming their way. Senate GOP sources view her as being part of a triumvirate of nominees who will have issues in the coming months.
Hegseth, the Defense nominee, hit a new wave of tumult over the weekend as The New Yorker released new details stemming from his tenure atop a pair of veterans organizations. He was forced to step down from both due to allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual improprieties, among other things.
The new questions arrived weeks after a 2017 sexual assault accusation surfaced. He told reporters prior to the Thanksgiving break that the allegation was “fully investigated” and he “was completely cleared.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a Tuesday interview with CBS said the allegations against Hegseth are “very disturbing” and are making his path to becoming the next Defense secretary more arduous.
The South Carolina Republican said it remains to be seen if Hegseth will be able to get across the finish line after President-elect Trump tapped him to run the Pentagon.
Patel, one of Trump’s most loyal backers in recent years, has laid out plans to purge FBI personnel who are deemed to be disloyal of the incoming president and said he wants to shutter the bureau’s D.C. headquarters.
However, Senate Republicans did not dismiss him out of hand, with a number pointing to what they argue is a strong resume that includes his time serving as a top aide to former House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), on the National Security Council and as a prosecutor.
“I think the conference will get behind him,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who was under consideration for a number of administration posts. “I think what you’re seeing here in Washington is a lot of people that are shocked that we’re going to see real reform in an agency that is completely broken.”
Although Gabbard served in the Hawaii Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq, she has never worked in the intelligence world or served in an intelligence committee. If confirmed, she would be put in charge of 18 intelligence agencies and a budget of roughly $70 billion.
“Gun to my head, Gabbard is probably the toughest,” a second Senate GOP aide said, noting that the Syria questions and her status as a lifelong Democrat top the list of worries for lawmakers.
“Those are real concerns members have,” the aide added.
The former presidential candidate is expected to start meeting with Senate Republicans on Monday, as Hegseth and others have been doing throughout this week.
Despite the questions some Senate Republicans have about the likes of Gabbard, Hegseth and Patel and their advice and consent role, many have indicated they want to give deference to Trump on his selections — and that could help them over the finish line.
“You take each one individually, but you look at … will they be a good fit for the department, what’s the reason why the president wants this person. You look at — is there any reason why this person should not be in that position,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters.
“You always do your best to give the president the benefit of the doubt,” he continued, “because he’s the one who’s accountable for making the nomination in the first place.”
