Gabbard on Capitol Hill as GOP Senate Support Remains Uncertain

Tulsi Gabbard is on Capitol Hill this week seeking to gain the backing of the Senate GOP conference for her nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as director of national intelligence—as support for her remains uncertain.

The veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii has faced questions from some Senate Republicans over her 2017 visit to Syria, where she met with then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the wake of Assad’s apparent abdication following the fall of Damascus, the Syrian capital, senators’ questions about her visit, which Gabbard has repeatedly called a “fact-finding mission,” have intensified.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had “lots of questions” and said she’d face thorough questioning during her confirmation hearings.

“We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was. As a member of Congress, we want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context,” Lankford said.

As these questions have arisen, Gabbard has made multiple visits to the Capitol this week to meet skeptical senators.

On Dec. 9, she met with Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Lankford.

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Rounds, also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was “looking forward to working with her as she continues to move through the confirmation process,” and described their meeting as “excellent.”

Following that meeting, Gabbard addressed questions about her 2017 visit.

“I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days in regards to the developments in Syria,” she told reporters.

In a Dec. 7 post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said “the United States should have nothing to do with” the conflicts in Syria.

“This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved,” the president-elect wrote in capital letters.

The position aligns with the anti-interventionist attitudes long championed by both Trump and Gabbard.

Gabbard said Trump “is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bringing about an end to wars, demonstrating peace through strength, and putting the national security interests and the safety, security, and freedom of the United States first and foremost.”

Question marks also remain about a handful of other senators’ support for Gabbard.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine)—often considered the senators most likely to defect from their party on key issues and nominations—have largely refrained from commenting on Trump’s more contested nominees, including Gabbard.

So too has outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has often broken from his party on foreign policy as the Republican base has increasingly taken on a non-interventionist attitude toward foreign conflicts.

With McConnell’s impending departure from leadership and his long-running disagreements with Trump and Gabbard, it’s unclear whether he’ll back the candidate.

With so many votes still uncertain, Gabbard’s fate remains up in the air.

When the new Congress sits on Jan. 3, 2025, Republicans will enjoy a relatively large 53 seat majority in the Senate.

This would allow Republicans to spare no more than three defections on any vote, in which case a tie could be broken by incoming Vice President JD Vance.

Many Republicans have been loud in their support for Gabbard, expressing confidence that she and other nominees facing controversy—including Pete Hegseth’s nomination to head up the Department of Defense and Robert F. Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services—will ultimately make it through.

Gabbard is likely to continue visiting Capitol Hill in the coming weeks, alongside Kennedy, Hegseth, and other nominees for posts requiring Senate confirmation.