By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican senators rallied around former Representative Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to become director of national intelligence before a key committee vote on Tuesday, increasing the chances that the full U.S. Senate will confirm President Donald Trump’s pick.
Senator Todd Young, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a statement supporting Gabbard before the panel was to vote on Tuesday afternoon on whether to recommend Trump’s nominee favorably to the Senate.
“I will support Tulsi’s nomination and look forward to working with her to protect our national security,” Young said.
Gabbard’s confirmation would continue a trend of unanimous or near-unanimous Republican support for Trump’s nominees in the Senate, underscoring the Republican president’s influence on his party as he begins his second term.
Young was one of a handful of Republicans on the intelligence panel who had not said whether they would support Gabbard. Democrats, and some Republicans, had expressed doubts about the choice of Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat without significant intelligence experience for the position overseeing all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
The intelligence panel has nine Republicans and eight Democrats. With every Democrat expected to oppose Gabbard, she could afford to lose the support of only one Republican to be favorably recommended to the full Senate.
During her confirmation hearing, Gabbard faced sharp questioning from senators from both parties about her past defense of former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and comments seen as supportive of Russia.
While in the House of Representatives, Gabbard introduced legislation that would have dropped criminal charges against Snowden, who leaked thousands of highly classified NSA documents, fled to China and then sought asylum in Russia.
Young posted a letter from Gabbard on social media in which the nominee pledged, among other things, to hold accountable any intelligence community employee, contractor or subcontractor who is suspected of making an unauthorized disclosure of intelligence programs.
Senator Susan Collins, another Republican who was seen as a potential swing vote, announced on Monday she would back Gabbard.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Will Dunham)
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