By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s contentious nomination of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday when a Senate committee backed her for confirmation despite doubts about her lack of experience and past statements seen as supporting U.S. adversaries.
Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters the panel had voted to report Gabbard’s nomination favorably to the full Senate.
The vote was a narrow 9-8, several committee members said. Two sources familiar with the result said it had been along party lines, as every Republican on the committee backed Gabbard and every Democrat voted against her.
No date has been announced for Gabbard’s consideration by the full 100-member Senate, where she cannot afford to lose the support of more than three of Trump’s fellow Republicans and still be confirmed, given unified Democratic opposition.
Gabbard’s confirmation would continue a trend of unanimous or near-unanimous Republican support for Trump’s nominees in the Senate, underscoring his influence on his party as he begins his second term.
A handful of Republicans on the intelligence panel had not said whether they would support Gabbard but two – Senators Susan Collins and Todd Young – announced this week that they would vote for Gabbard.
Democrats, and some Republicans, had expressed doubts about the choice of Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat without significant intelligence experience, for the position overseeing all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
During her confirmation hearing, Gabbard faced sharp questioning from senators from both parties about her past defense of former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and comments seen as supportive of Russia.
While in the House of Representatives, Gabbard introduced legislation that would have dropped criminal charges against Snowden, who leaked thousands of highly classified NSA documents, fled to China and then sought asylum in Russia.
Young posted a letter from Gabbard on social media in which the nominee pledged, among other things, to hold accountable any intelligence community employee, contractor or subcontractor who is suspected of making an unauthorized disclosure of intelligence programs.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Will Dunham)
