Second Senator Flips Vote To Confirm Tulsi Gabbard

In a surprising twist, another GOP Senator has flipped their vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel for Director of the FBI, and RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary. Senator Lindsey Graham announced on Fox News Sunday that he would confirm President Trump’s Cabinet positions.

Graham stated that he’s served in a reserve unit with Tulsi and has “always liked her” and that much “criticism against her has been mean and off-base.” He wanted to hear Tulsi’s thoughts of intelligence agencies gathering intel on foreign enemies (Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). He was pleased with Tulsi’s defending the importance of Section 702 and will vote to confirm her.

Graham’s shift to support Trump’s nominees comes on the heels of Senator John Cornyn (TX) announcing on Friday that he would support Tulsi. The Senate vote is looking good for our Sekulow colleague Tulsi. But of course, anything can happen in the actual vote, which could be as soon as tomorrow.

Reports are that the Intelligence Committee will hold a closed vote regarding Tulsi. Of course, this gives cover to any GOP Senators who don’t want to be blamed for Trump’s nominee not being confirmed. (The Senate confirmation votes for Patel and RFK Jr. should be coming shortly too.)

We also had some breaking news about Trump’s tariff war with Mexico and Canada. Trump just announced that he would pause the tariff on Mexico for one month after Mexico’s president agreed to send 10,000 troops to help secure the border.

Now a lot of conservatives are a bit wary of Trump’s tariffs. He clearly is using them as a negotiation tool to enhance American interests. But could they backfire? ACLJ Senior Counsel and Director of Policy Harry Hutchison explained Trump’s tariffs strategy:

Both Mexico and Canada were warned on January 20 that punitive tariffs would indeed be imposed on both countries if they did not help the United States stem the flow of fentanyl and other forms of trafficking. Neither country moved forward, at least expeditiously. So last Saturday, President Trump imposed those tariffs to take effect, I believe, tomorrow, and many of those tariffs are very punitive. Now those tariffs were designed to do one thing: to force those countries to come to the bargaining table. And they worked, so . . . if you indeed have a backbone, people will react. In addition to Canada and Mexico, President Trump has imposed tariffs up to 10% at least on China, with more to come potentially on the European community. Keep in mind that Trump’s tariff threats have worked with respect to Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela.

And it’s important to note that Trump used tariffs during his first term. Harry reminded the audience that inflation went down and employment went up during Trump’s first term.

Finally, we are especially excited that Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell helped rescue six American hostages in Venezuela. Grenell, whom we are proud to have on staff at the ACLJ, elaborated:

Well, we had two big pieces of news, and we basically and rightfully released the hostage story first because that was unfolding in real time. We got them out of Venezuela, and that was a huge win. Their stories are emotional. It’s unbelievable and probably the best career day of my life meeting these six individuals on the tarmac and . . . taking them home.

But we also were able to negotiate, getting a big win by having the Venezuelan government and Nicolas Maduro directly agree to take back all of the Venezuelans in the United States who are illegally here. Obviously, we have a lot of Venezuelan Americans here legally. We love them. They’re a huge part of the fabric of the United States. But for all of the individuals who . . . are here illegally, they need to be sent back. . . . And the big win is that the Venezuelans will not only take them back [ but] they’re going to send planes to come here and pick them up and pay for these individuals to go back to their country.

We are proud of what Ric accomplished this past weekend as a member of Trump’s Administration. It’s also why we need all of Trump’s Cabinet picks confirmed. Take urgent action with us, and join our demand letter to the Senate to quickly confirm Trump’s national security team.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of Senator Graham stating that he would back Trump’s Cabinet picks and the breaking news of Trump pausing the tariff on Mexico.

Watch the full broadcast below: