Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on Sunday that a “paperwork problem” with the Office of Government Ethics is holding up the hearing for President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. intelligence community, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii).
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Margaret Brennan noted that Gabbard appears to be the only member of Trump’s national security team without a scheduled hearing.
“Is it the FBI background check that’s holding things up or is it the ethics disclosure that’s a problem?” she asked.
“You’re right,” Barrasso said. “It’s a paperwork problem right now with the Office of Government Ethics.”
“We had hoped to have the hearing later this week. It looks like it’s going to be the following week,” he added. “But she continues to have promotions in the military. She’s a lieutenant colonel. She now has top level security clearances. She’s the right person to keep America secure and safe.”
The Hill has reached out to the Office of Government Ethics for comment.
Barrasso also noted that he supports Gabbard’s confirmation to the critical cabinet and said “I’m not concerned at all” about Gabbard getting confirmed.
“I support Tulsi Gabbard,” Barrasso said. “She is amazing in that she has been a member of Congress and a combat veteran, a decorated combat veteran for work under fire in Iraq.”
Gabbard represented Hawaii in the House as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021, before leaving her party and recently registering as a Republican.
Her presumptive nomination has prompted concern among some lawmakers who have pointed to her lack of experience in the intelligence field and, perhaps more significantly, to her relationships with U.S. adversaries.
She met in 2017 with Syria leader Bashar Assad, who was recently overthrown. The meeting came after allegations Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. She has also been a high-profile defender of national security leaker Edward Snowden and has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric about the Ukraine war.
Senate Democrats are insisting on delaying Gabbard’s confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence, saying they still don’t have the full slate of background checks, ethics disclosures and paperwork on a candidate whose overall qualifications have sparked their concern. The pushback appears to have successfully delayed a hearing that would normally take place before Trump is sworn into office Jan. 20.
“We’re going to insist on these documents before we go forward,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. “I mean, that’s just kind of a nonnegotiable. You can’t do ‘advise and consent’ without it.”
“Particularly in the national security context, it’s critical that you have these documents. Maybe it’s not flashy and it’s not viral, but it happens to be how I feel.”
