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Senator Reveals What’s Holding Up Gabbard Confirmation Hearing

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said he was “not concerned at all” about Gabbard’s chances of being confirmed.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said that a paperwork issue is holding up scheduling on a confirmation hearing for Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for director of national intelligence. Speaking to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said he was “not concerned at all” that Republicans would not have the votes to approve Gabbard. Confirmation hearings for the president-elect’s Cabinet nominees begin on Monday morning, and have been scheduled through Thursday—but a hearing for Gabbard before the Senate Intelligence Committee has still not been announced. “It’s a paperwork problem right now, with the Office of Government Ethics,” Barrasso told Brennan. “We had hoped to have a hearing later this week, it looks like it’s going to be the following week. But she continues to have promotions in the military, she’s a lieutenant colonel, she now has top-level security clearances—she is the right person to keep America secure and safe.” Barrasso also said he supports “every one of these nominees,” and was working to “make sure they get across the finish line.” The former Hawaii congresswoman recently reversed her position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in a bid to shore up support with Republican lawmakers—a provision she once tried to repeal as a Democratic member of the House.