BREAKING: Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed As Director Of National Intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday was confirmed by U.S. Senate Republicans, giving President Donald Trump another cabinet member and new director of national intelligence.

The controversial former congresswoman was voted in by 52 Republicans, with Mitch McConnell and all Democrats voting against her, some of whom accused the former Democrat of speaking too warmly about some of America’s most adversarial enemies. Her confirmation was expected after the body voted Monday evening to advance her nomination.

At a hearing last month, Gabbard downplayed her past remarks and portrayed herself as a fierce defender of Americans’ privacy in the age of the surveillance state.

She cited testimony by James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, who in 2013 told the committee that the federal government did not collect sensitive information on Americans without warrants, including “phone and internet records.”

Gabbard also accused members of the intelligence community of undermining President Trump’s reelection campaign, citing a letter signed by 51 former officials dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as a product of “Russian disinformation.”

This was done “specifically to help Biden win the election,” Gabbard testified to members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee.

Gabbard, a 20-year military veteran and active member of the U.S. Army Reserve, was at one point seen as President Trump’s most vulnerable nominee. She has been forced to explain or backtrack statements in defense of Russia and Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked evidence of warrantless surveillance of Americans.

She has also accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy of conspiring with former President Joe Biden to lengthen his country’s war with Russia to receive protracted financial support from the U.S.

“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns,” she wrote on X in 2022.

Asked by Republican Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) if she would give Russia “a pass” if confronted with misdeeds, Gabbard responded forcefully.

“Senator, I’m offended by the question because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people,” she said, according to the Washington Post.

Perhaps learning from the tribulations of Pete Hegseth, Gabbard went into Wednesday’s vote having secured support from Republican senators who bucked the defense secretary in his own confirmation. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who are considered the caucus’s moderates, both confirmed in advance of Wednesday’s vote that they stood behind Gabbard.