TOP SPY

GOP Senators Bow Down to Trump to Advance Tulsi Gabbard for Spy Job

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to send her nomination to the Senate for a full vote.

Tulsi Gabbard cleared a major hurdle Tuesday in her confirmation process to become the nation’s top intelligence official in the Trump administration.

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 9-8 behind closed doors to put Gabbard, Donald Trump’s controversial choice, one step closer to becoming the nation’s top spy chief.

“The Intelligence Committee just voted to report Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be the Director of National Intelligence favorably to the United States Senate,” Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said. “We look forward to her confirmation and working with her to keep America safe.”

The party-line vote marks a major reversal for Gabbard’s fortunes. Her nomination had appeared to be on extremely thin ice in recent days, with even some of her closest allies casting doubt on whether she’d get a floor vote.

Gabbard’s flip-flop on Edward Snowden drew fire during her recent committee hearing, with Sen. Todd Young voicing reluctance to back her, saying he found it “notable” that the nominee didn’t acknowledge that “Snowden caused tremendous damage to national security, including to military, defense and intelligence programs.”

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But she managed to sway some of her biggest GOP skeptics who had voiced strong concerns over her past sympathetic remarks about Syria’s now-deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as well as her defense of U.S. intelligence whistleblower Snowden, and her past opposition to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Gabbard received a key endorsement from moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine—one of three Republicans to vote against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the floor—with Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) following suit on Tuesday.

Republican senators who were on the fence said Gabbard—a former Army intelligence officer—eased their concerns, with Young saying she provided “commitments that will advance our national security, which is my top priority as a former Marine Corps intelligence officer.”

Prior to throwing his support behind Gabbard, Young came under fire from Trump’s top DOGE man, Elon Musk, who accused the Indiana Republican of being a “deep state puppet” in a since-deleted post on X.

Musk later backpedaled, saying he had a “great conversation” with Young, whom he called a “great ally in restoring power to the people from the vast, unelected bureaucracy.”

Gabbard laid out her reasoning behind her previous refusal to call Snowden a traitor in a Newsweek op-ed over the weekend.

“Treason is a capital offense, punishable by death, yet politicians like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US Senator Mitt Romney have slandered me, Donald Trump Jr., and others with baseless accusations of treason. It is essential to focus on the facts, not the label. Snowden should have raised his concerns about illegal surveillance through authorized channels, such as the Inspector General or the Intelligence Committee, instead of leaking to the media,” she wrote.

Gabbard needs 51 senators to win Senate confirmation, with her once nearly-doomed nomination appearing all but shored up as Republicans have, one by one, fallen in line with President Trump.

Gabbard can lose no more than three Republicans in a floor vote without the support of any Democrats, who have alleged she’s a national security threat. A floor vote has not yet been scheduled.

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Juliegrace BrufkeSenior Political Correspondent

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