By Eireann Van Natta, Daily Caller News Foundation | January 07, 2025
Senate Democrats, spearheaded by Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, are delaying Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing scheduled for mid-January, according to an Axios report. Gabbard is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Warner, who is vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Community, claimed the committee has not received Gabbard’s ethics disclosure, pre-hearing questionnaire or a FBI background check, a source told Axios.
However, Gabbard’s military clearance means the background check process is fast-tracked, and she has met all of the required deadlines, a source familiar told the Daily Caller.
The source also alleged that Warner prevented other Democrats on the committee from meeting with Gabbard, and his office allegedly took over a month to reply to an email from Gabbard’s team that was sent in November.
“I hope to meet [Gabbard],” New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told the National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg. “I think we will wait until after the chairman meets with her.”
Warner is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Gabbard, Axios reported.
Some Senate Democrats have expressed openness to confirming her, including Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who met with Gabbard in December.
“I believe that it’s appropriate and the responsibility of a U.S. Senator to have a conversation with President-elect Trump’s nominees,” Fetterman stated.
“After the terrorist attacks on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, it’s sad to see Sen. Warner and Democrats playing politics with Americans’ safety and our national security by stonewalling Lt. Col. Gabbard’s nomination, who is willing to meet with every member who will meet with her as this process continues,” Gabbard’s transition spokeswoman, Alexa Henning, told the Caller.
“It is vital the senate confirms President Elect Trump’s national security nominees swiftly, which in the past has been a bipartisan effort, we are working in lockstep with Chairman Cotton and look forward to Lt. Col. Gabbard’s hearing before Inauguration Day,” she continued.
Gabbard previously met with Republican GOP senators, including Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, South Dakota Sen. and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, also met with Republican senators in December. His nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, is scheduled for confirmation hearings in mid-January, sources told Politico.
Eireann Van Natta is an intelligence state reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
