Tulsi Gabbard Secures Votes To Confirm

At the 11th hour, additional GOP Senators flipped their votes in support of  Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for Director of National Intelligence. Earlier this afternoon, in a closed session, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 9-8 to move forward with Tulsi’s nomination.

One of the last-minute flips was Senator Collins (ME), who released a statement in support of Tulsi’s nomination: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size.” It’s an interesting endorsement from Collins because she didn’t give a perfunctory answer about needing to confirm the President’s Cabinet. Rather, she believed Tulsi would excel in the position and reduce the bloated intelligence agencies.

Collins’ endorsement was powerful because it gave cover to any other GOP Senators who were still on the fence about approving Tulsi. And, honestly, it put them in a bad light if they didn’t confirm her.

GOP Senator Todd Young (IN) was the other Senate Intelligence Committee panel Member to signal he was flipping his vote in favor of Tulsi. Just prior to our broadcast, he released this statement: “I appreciate Tulsi Gabbard’s engagement with me on a variety of issues to ensure that our intelligence professionals will be supported and policymakers will receive unbiased information under her leadership. . . . I will support Tulsi’s nomination and look forward to working with her to protect our national security.” So at the last minute, Young announced he would back Tulsi after being convinced by her answers during the hearing.

As far as the other Members of the Senate panel, Senator James Lankford (OK) announced at the onset that he would vote for Tulsi, and though he asked tough questions during the hearing, he hadn’t deviated from his initial support. And Senators John Cornyn (TX) and Lindsey Graham (SC) promised to confirm Tulsi.

I know a lot of you were calling your Senators to let them know that they needed to support President Trump’s nominees. And the ACLJ has been reminding the Senate that it should heed the American people’s mandate to confirm Trump’s Cabinet. If you haven’t yet, sign our petition to confirm Trump’s national security team.

We hope that all these voices – plus the added pressure of GOP colleagues – convinced Senator Jerry Moran (KS), the lone possible GOP holdout, to back Tulsi.

It’s also looking good for RFK Jr.’s confirmation as HHS Secretary. He was confirmed by the Senate Finance Committee even amid concerns by Senator Bill Cassidy (LA), who is a medical doctor. However, he posted on X that he “had very intense conversations” with RFK Jr. and received “honest counsel” from Vice President J.D. Vance. As a result, he voted in favor of RFK Jr. A Senate floor vote could take place soon for RFK Jr.

And how about Kash Patel? He absolutely “nailed” his FBI Director Senate confirmation hearing, according to Senator Katie Britt (AL). And ever since then, we haven’t heard much negative chatter. I expect that his confirmation will sail through pretty easily.

Yesterday we saw how Canada and Mexico both caved to President Trump’s tariff threats and agreed to send thousands of their troops to secure the northern and southern borders. Trump’s foreign policy is also working in El Salvador, where the country’s president agreed to take back its illegal immigrants and even went a step further: El Salvador is willing to detain criminals and illegal immigrants from other nations as well.

ACLJ Senior Counsel and Director of Policy Harry Hutchison reacted to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vigilance in meeting with Latin nations:

Well, I would say that Trump is doing precisely what he promised he would do, and he is doing it expeditiously. So what we have seen is an enormous change from the Biden Administration, which was distinguished by virtue of the fact that it was sclerotic, ossified, and broken down. . . . The Biden Administration failed to send American officials to Central America to secure the border, and so what we have is Secretary of State Rubio going to Costa Rica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and El Salvador and securing extraordinary cooperation with the governments in Central America. He’s also helped secure cooperation along with tariffs with Mexico and with Canada. And so what the American public is seeing is a sea change in terms of how America can enact its own foreign policy in its own interest.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of more GOP Senators signaling they would support Tulsi just prior to the Senate Intelligence Committee moving her nomination forward toward confirmation.

Watch the full broadcast below: