Senate confirms Tulsi Gabbard, who met Assad in Syria, to lead US intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment to the Trump administration has provoked alarm among some politicians, who speak of her views on Russia and her meeting with Bashar Al Assad in 2017. Bloomberg

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence, demonstrating that even the President's most controversial appointments will receive support from his few remaining sceptics in the Republican Party.

Ms Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, has aligned herself with the positions of some of Washington's historic adversaries, including Russia, and has defended an hours-long meeting with ousted Syrian president Bashar Al Assad in Damascus in 2017.

Her appointment to the Trump cabinet was considered among the most difficult to achieve but she clinched the nomination in a 52-48 vote, with former Republican Senator Mitch McConnell representing the party's only dissenting vote.

While the vote unfolded mainly along partisan lines, the harsh divides of the moment were otherwise unseen on the Senate floor.

Senator Jim Risch, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a "yes" voter, was seen laughing and conversing with the committee's top Democrat, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, throughout the floor proceedings.

Ms Gabbard managed to earn the endorsement of Republican senators who had previously been sceptical of her nomination, including Lisa Murkowski, who announced that while she “continues to have concerns about certain positions [Ms Gabbard] has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency".

Majority Leader John Thune, in a Senate floor speech before the confirmation vote, pushed back against the notion of his party demanding blind loyalty to the US President, despite nearly every member falling in line to advance two of his most controversial nominees, including Ms Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

"What's interesting about both of these nominees is that both are former Democrats. In fact, a year ago they were Democrats," he said. "I make that observation only because there's a lot of talk these days about loyalty oaths and allegiance and purity tests for people to be considered good enough to be in the so-called Maga [Make America Great Again] movement. And yet, when it comes to Democrats, a very different standard seems to be being applied here."

He added that "the mandate given by the American people in November" shows they desire a "different track" in the country. "They have a different set of priorities than is being articulated here in the United States Senate."

Ms Gabbard's selection to lead US intelligence with no experience in the field is in line with Mr Trump's promise to shake up the country's political establishment. She has a long track record of criticising the intelligence community she now leads.

She condemned Washington's “weaponisation of intelligence” and the invasion of Iraq – which came after a campaign of false claims that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction – as one of the clearest examples of a flawed intelligence apparatus.

“This disastrous decision led to the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers, millions of people in the Middle East, mass migration undermining the security and stability of our European allies, the rise of ISIS, the strengthening of Al Qaeda and other Islamist jihadist groups, and the strengthening of Iran,” she said at her confirmation hearing.

She also expressed doubts on assessments that Mr Al Assad had used chemical weapons against Syrians and made statements in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. At her confirmation hearing, she clarified that she now does believe the former Syrian president used chemical weapons.

The Senate Intelligence Committee approved her confirmation to a final floor vote last week, also along partisan lines, after critical Republican Senator Todd Young said he would endorse her following the receipt of a letter in which Ms Gabbard committed to ensuring "that our intelligence professionals will be supported".