Gabbard struggles to woo senators ahead of confirmation fight

Tulsi Gabbard is struggling through her meetings with senators this week, sources told The Hill, highlighting the difficult path she faces in winning confirmation to be director of national intelligence. 

Nearly a half dozen sources, including senators and individuals close to the situation, indicated that Gabbard is having trouble during meetings with lawmakers, with one source familiar describing the sit-downs as “not going well.” 

“She was proving to be a little shallow, like a House member talking at a hearing and not someone who needs to provide the president’s daily intelligence briefing,” the source familiar said. 

Two Senate Republicans also echoed the concerns, with one noting that multiple members who have sat down with her have come away unimpressed thus far. 

“I’ve heard that she’s not very well prepared,” the Senate GOP member said, describing them as “BS sessions.” “I’ve heard not great things.” 

The second Senate Republican added there have been “a lot of eyerolls” from members who have sat down with the former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman early on. 

The issues lawmakers have with Gabbard stem from her lack of experience and her relationships with U.S. adversaries.

She met in 2017 with Bashar Assad in Syria, whose government was overthrown this week, following allegations of chemical weapons use against his own people. She has also been a high-profile defender of leaker Edward Snowden and has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points on the Ukraine war.

Her defense of Putin would make it difficult for her to gain support from the likes of outgoing Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is staunch in his support for Ukraine.

Another source familiar with her meetings on the Hill said that senators were “likely inclined not to like her from the beginning.”

A Senate GOP aide whose member has met with Gabbard said the poor meetings she’s had “don’t make it easy” for her to win votes,” adding, “she’s got some work to do if she wants the job. The more she meets with serious people, the more they’ll see there’s a competency deficit.”

But, the aide was optimistic, calling her “a capable person who could learn quickly.”

“They’ve got to get her up to speed really quickly… she’s just not educated on the job. But I feel she can get it done, ultimately,” the source said.

Additionally, another Senate Republican who has met with Gabbard said that some of her troubles stem from positions beyond Syria and Russia. Specifically, they pointed to her past votes against reauthorizing FISA Section 702, which gives the U.S. the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens located abroad. 

“The hard part is explaining things like she voted against [FISA Section 702] four times and now she’s going to have to be the defender of 702,” the member said. 

Others expressed less concern about Gabbard. 

“They’ll find she’s a straight shooter,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said earlier in the week. “She is someone that when she gets focused, she’s extremely driven and will get the job done, and she’s also going to be someone that’s going to be able to change the way that DNI has been run under [Director Avril Haines] and the direction that we’re going to be going there.”

“People have just got to get to know her and be comfortable with her,” he added. 

Haines, who was appointed by President Biden, was the first of the president’s Cabinet officials confirmed in the Senate. Senators supported her with a bipartisan 84-10 vote on Biden’s Inauguration Day. 

At the time, Haines was backed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is Trump’s pick to run the State Department.

Haines has the typical experience for the role — she served in several national security positions under the Obama administration, including deputy CIA director and White House deputy national security adviser. 

She replaced Trump’s former DNI John Ratcliffe, who previously was a congressman from Texas. He drew backlash over some of his decisions to declassify intelligence that was viewed as attempts to spread at times unverified information that could hurt Trump’s political enemies.

The Trump transition pushed back on reporting that Gabbard is struggling in her meetings with senators.

“These cowardly anonymous sources are desperately trying to hold on to power, so they hide behind the media to spread these falsities that directly subvert the will of the American people. President Trump won with a mandate for change from the American people, and that's one of the reasons he nominated Lt. Col. Gabbard for DNI,” said transition spokesperson Alexa Henning.

The Gabbard tumult comes as most of Trump’s other nominees have found themselves in relatively stronger positions. Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s choice to lead the Pentagon, appeared to be in deep peril mid-last week before going on a blitz of meetings with members and the media to turn things around.

“She’s probably more vulnerable than Hegseth right now,” said the source familiar with Gabbard’s meetings in recent days, adding that people who have been on Capitol Hill with the Defense secretary pick feel like he has “turned the corner.” 

Lawmakers are now confident he can win confirmation after overcoming the wave of issues.

“I will say, the middle of last week, it felt like there was growing momentum against him. I think that has changed markedly,” said Sen. Ted Cruz. (R-Texas). “The momentum has shifted considerably in Pete’s direction. I think Pete’s going to get confirmed.” 

Mullin was more blunt. 

“It didn’t look too good last week,” he said. “But I thought he could get there if he could make it through the week, and he did. Now you’re seeing the tide turn for him because he’s taking the fight to the Senate. He’s making his case and it’s been effective.”