Republican Senate sources indicate which Trump appointee is next to fall
President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general went down in flames, and his choice of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense is on thin ice as well.
And now Politico reports that Trump's choice for to be the next director of national intelligence will be the next to get the ax.
The Politico report cited two current and three former Republican Senate aides who are aware of discussions about Gabbard's nomination being in question. In fact, one former senior Intelligence Committee aide called her nomination dead on arrival.
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“I do not think the votes are there for Tulsi Gabbard. I don’t see how you get to a majority on SSCI. I’m sorry to tell you,” the person told Politico.
One reason that Gabbard hasn't yet faced the same criticism as others is that the possible nominees have their own scandals, and it's sucking all of the air out of the news cycle.
“The best thing that Tulsi has going for her is the other Trump nominees that are blowing themselves up,” said a former senior Republican Senate staffer.
Gabbard also hasn't been on Capitol Hill to court votes from Republicans who will be key in approving her on the Intelligence Committee. Potential appointees like former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Hegseth have been the ones in Washington, begging for votes. Gabbard begins that next week, which will dramatically increase the attention to her controversial relationships in Russia and Syria and other background concerns.
Earlier this week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told MSNBC he thinks she has a lot of explaining to do.
"If the concerns about Miss Gabbard's connections with Syria, Russia and other places lead our key intelligence allies, particularly the so-called 'five eyes,' to withhold cooperation with our intelligence services because they don't trust her not to leak their key assets to the Russians, that would be a very significant blow to national security," said Whitehouse.