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Republican senators have lots of questions about Tulsi Gabbard’s record on Syria. That doesn’t mean those views are disqualifying for her push to join Donald Trump’s administration.
Gabbard is stepping up her confirmation push this week on the Hill, taking meetings with senators that coincide with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. In 2017, the former Hawaii congresswoman Gabbard met with Assad; two years later, she said he is “not the enemy of the United States.”
Those views are drawing heightened scrutiny after Assad’s ouster from power over the weekend, piquing the interest of Republicans whose votes she needs to become Trump’s director of national intelligence.
“To a lot of people, and I would put myself in that position, she’s too undefined to really form an opinion [on], so she needs to get out” and meet with more senators, said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a member of party leadership.
“She’s quoted as saying, ‘[Assad’s] not an enemy of the U.S.’ Let’s flesh that out. I will reserve opinion until” meeting with her, Capito added.
Gabbard is just beginning to make the rounds in the Senate, earning the support of some Republicans and plaudits from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. While she still has a lot of work to do to win 50 votes, she has not taken on as much public flak as other Trump nominees — defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and former attorney general pick Matt Gaetz in particular.
A onetime Democratic congresswoman and military veteran with a doveish view on foreign policy, Gabbard also faces questions about her sympathetic views toward Russia, whose leader Vladimir Putin is a longtime Assad ally. But given the timing of her confirmation push, Syria is front and center.
Notably, Gabbard aligned her view of Syria with Trump’s on Monday. In a statement released by the president-elect’s transition, she said she “wholeheartedly” agrees with Trump’s anti-interventionist position on Syria; the transition said the two are in “lockstep.”
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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who is also meeting with Gabbard this week, said that he’s going to discuss Syria in depth with Gabbard but doesn’t expect anyone to make policy other than Trump. And that means if Gabbard’s views clash with those of some Republicans, that’s OK.
“Foreign policy, based on what I’ve seen so far, is going to be set by one person, President Trump. And I don’t think his nominees for any position are going to have the latitude that they think they might have,” Kennedy said. “I don’t know the context in which she said these things. I mean, foreign policy is complex and it’s nuanced.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — a member of the Intelligence Committee, which will review her nomination — said he plans to ask her directly about Syria during their forthcoming meeting.
Sen. Thom Tillis is even more deferential. Since he’s not on the Intelligence panel, Tillis said the Syria issue is going to be left to its members, who are “either going to draw a conclusion that it’s an issue, or not.”
Though he’s a big Ukraine supporter, Tillis didn’t seem bothered by her views there on Russia’s war against Kyiv: “She’s not the president. That’s a discussion I need to have with the president. She’s not setting policy, she’s aggregating intelligence information.”
The View From The Trump Wing
Two Trump-aligned senators said Gabbard’s past interactions and comments with Assad are being over-interpreted by her skeptics.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said senators meet with foreign leaders of all stripes all the time: “They make way too much about this stuff.”
And Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., criticized those who have suggested she’s a tool of authoritarian governments.
“Maybe the worst parlor game in this town is, if you disagree with people’s policy positions, you refer to them as a Russian asset. I think it’s totally unfair. It’s a slur to her,” Schmitt told Semafor. “She’s going to be asked a lot of those questions, but I think she’s a good fit.”