Murkowski and Cassidy announce they’ll vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to Trump cabinet post

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., both announced that they would vote to confirm former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

In a party-line vote on Monday, Murkowski, Cassidy, and the other Republican senators who voted opted to move forward with the confirmation process by supporting cloture, while the members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted opposed cloture. 

“I will vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence,” Murkowski declared in a post on X. 

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Left: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 1, 2023; Center: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, leaves a meeting with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, at the Hart Senate Office Building on Dec. 18, 2024 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; Right: U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 5, 2022 in Washington, D.C.  (Left: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Center: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, while still enabling the ODNI to continue its essential function in upholding national security,” the senator continued. 

“As she brings independent thinking and necessary oversight to her new role, I am counting on her to ensure the safety and civil liberties of American citizens remain rigorously protected.”

Murkowski voted against confirming Pete Hegseth to serve as Defense Secretary last month. 

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“President Trump chose Tulsi Gabbard to be his point person on foreign intelligence,” Cassidy said in a statement. “I will trust President Trump on this decision and vote for her confirmation.”

Gabbard, who served in Congress from early 2013 to early 2021, announced in 2022 that she was leaving the Democratic Party. 

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Last year she backed Trump in the 2024 presidential contest and announced she was joining the Republican Party.