President-elect Donald Trump’s top spy picks appear to be enjoying an increasingly receptive Senate GOP, as they make the rounds huddling with senators in a bid to shore up support for their confirmations.
Director of National Intelligence designee Tulsi Gabbard has faced heightened scrutiny over her 2017 visit to Syria, but GOP senators appear to be downplaying that. Meanwhile, almost no Senate Republican appears to have publicly voiced reservations about CIA director designee John Ratcliffe.
“I think that’s an outstanding pick,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) mused to reporters Wednesday about Ratcliffe, who he considers a friend. “I think he’s going to be one of the more boring confirmation hearings we will have, which I think is OK with him.”
Ratcliffe, a former congressman, served as Trump’s DNI during the tail-end of his first administration, previously was confirmed by the Senate with no Republicans opposed to him, despite Democratic resistance.
The aspiring CIA director had garnered far less attention than some of Trump’s other staffing selections.
Initially, Gabbard proved to be one of the more controversial choices, with some Republicans admitting to some skepticism about the former Democrat.
“We’ll have lots of questions. She met with Bashar Assad. We’ll want to know what the purpose was,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told CNN shortly after Gabbard was announced.
Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, met with Gabbard Monday and indicated to reporters that he was comfortable with her explanations.
“We talked about her Syria visit, you know, talked about some of the things with Snowden and some of her previous comments,” Lankford explained to reporters, per the Washington Times
Gabbard had met with former Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad in 2017, while a sitting congresswoman from Hawaii. Assad’s oppression of his people was widely known at the time as were accusations that he deployed chemical weapons against his people.
She openly questioned the intelligence community’s assessments that he was behind a gas attack later that year which had drawn a kinetic response from the Trump administration.
That had left some defense and intelligence luminaries enraged, with former National Security Adviser John Bolton and other critics casting her as an Assad apologist. However, she also denounced Assad as a “brutal dictator.”
The former Democrat, turned Republican previously backed legislation to drop charges against Edward Snowden, an ex-National Security Agency contractor who leaked troves of classified information.
Consternation about Syria resurfaced in the wake of Islamist rebel group group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) Saturday toppling of the Assad regime.
“I want to address the issue that’s in the headlines right now. I stand in full support, wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these past few days with regards to Syria,” she told reporters this week.
Trump had posited that the fall of Assad was emblematic of how “Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now” and urged Russia to pursue a ceasefire with Ukraine.
“I believe she is a very bright person,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the more hawkish Republicans, posted on X after meeting with Gabbard. “I have a lot of deference for presidential cabinet nominations because I believe every president deserves their team.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who overlapped with Gabbard in the House, outright jumped to her defense amid the political slings and arrows directed her way.
“They came after Tulsi Gabbard trying to call her a Russian agent, come on, give me a break. She’s a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army,” Mullin told reporters Tuesday. “I think the Democrats are they’re gonna continue to try to find somebody that they’re gonna go after.”
While many Republicans have admitted to significant disagreements with Gabbard, they have generally seemed leery of crossing Trump.
“I obviously differ a great deal in a number of areas with both her judgment and her background and experience, but what I do trust is the Senate process,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
As a congressman, Turner will not have to weigh her confirmation, but should she get through, he will have to work with her on key intelligence matters.
Ultimately, Gabbard and Ratcliffe can only afford to lose up to four votes from Senate Republicans who are poised to get a 53 to 47 majority starting in January, although that margin will drop briefly when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) leaves the upper chamber to prepare for his own confirmation hearings after being nominated as secretary of state.
Many key potential swing votes such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have been fairly guarded with their views on Gabbard since she was named.
Some have also caveated that their views are subject to change based on the developments in the confirmation process. But at least for now, it appears the prospects of getting Trump’s spy bosses through the Senate are looking brighter.