Inside Tom Cotton’s unconventional push for Tulsi Gabbard

Tom Cotton’s plan to get Tulsi Gabbard through the Senate Intelligence Committee was unconventional — Kyrsten Sinema even got involved.

The former Arizona independent senator offered to vouch for Gabbard, a close friend from their time in the House (Cotton served with them, too). Sinema ended up speaking to two former colleagues, Todd Young of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine, about their concerns with Gabbard’s background, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Young and Collins this week supported Gabbard, allowing Cotton’s Senate Intelligence Committee to approve her once-embattled nomination to become Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence. She’s now on the cusp of confirmation, despite skepticism in the Washington establishment about her past meeting with the deposed leader of Syria and her past openness to the rhetoric of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Cotton, himself a hawk on Syria and Russia, mounted a surprising behind-the-scenes push to get Gabbard, a former liberal Democrat, through his closely divided committee. He had some help in the form of his own growing power: As of this year he’s now both the chair of the Senate Republican Conference, the No. 3 leadership job, and Intelligence chair.

Though it’s not surprising that Cotton would support Trump’s nominees, Gabbard was a unique challenge for his committee. Gabbard and Cotton aren’t historically simpatico on national security, and she’d been dubious of some of the very programs the intelligence community uses to collect information.

“She’s a patriot, and she is dedicated to serving our country. We have certainly had our differences on this or that issue, but I also know that she’s committed to the badly needed reforms that I’ve championed,” Cotton told Semafor on Tuesday. “I welcome a partnership to try to pursue those reforms once she’s confirmed.”

Cotton worked hand in glove with Gabbard’s team of sherpas, the White House and Vice President JD Vance to aid Gabbard, who was in jeopardy just a couple weeks ago. Just before her hearing, Cotton convened a meeting with Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and former Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr to prepare Gabbard for her questioning.

Still, the work wasn’t yet done after the hearing. Some Republicans did not like her answers to questions about classified information leaker Edward Snowden during her open hearing, but one of Cotton’s GOP colleagues noted her answer was far stronger behind closed doors.

Cotton advised Gabbard’s allies to get that answer into print before the vote.

On Sunday evening, a Gabbard op-ed ran in Newsweek that explained why she didn’t call Snowden a traitor after being criticized by lawmakers in both parties for her relative warmth toward Russia and her past visit to Syria.

She said in the piece that “Snowden should have raised his concerns about illegal surveillance through authorized channels” and offered a plan to prevent “Snowden-like” leaks.