Tulsi Gabbard won Senate confirmation as director of national intelligence Wednesday and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also neared approval as President Trump continued to rack up cabinet wins.
Gabbard, once considered a long shot for approval, won approval by a 52-48 vote with all Republican senators except for Sen. Mitch McConnell supporting her bid.
RFK Jr., meanwhile, looks set to win final approval soon as he was poised to win a procedural vote with overwhelming GOP support.
The twin victories mark the latest in a series of wins for Trump as he has mostly succeeded in pushing his unconventional team over the line despite questions about many of them.
So far, the only stumble was his effort to install ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, a nomination that quickly collapsed last year amid allegations of drug-fueled parties and sex with an underage girl.
A former progressive House Democrat, Gabbard was once considered one of Trump’s most contentious nominees, with major questions over her past comments sympathetic to government leaker Edward Snowden and Russia as well as a chummy meeting with Syria’s now-ousted dictator Bashir al-Assad.
She endured a rocky confirmation hearing at which several Republican senators appeared dissatisfied with her answers, particularly her refusal to condemn Snowden as a traitor.
But the GOP lawmakers set aside their misgivings and got in line behind Gabbard as the White House started to twist arms. McConnell, the sometimes critic of Trump who doesn’t plan to run for reelection, was the only one to buck the party line vote.
“If we had a secret ballot, Gabbard might get 10 votes,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said before her confirmation vote.
Meanwhile, Kennedy, a strident anti-vaccine activist, also appeared to be on a surprisingly smooth path to confirmation after he was expected to win a procedural vote Wednesday.
He could be confirmed as early as Thursday with only two Republicans, McConnell and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) still remaining on the fence on his bid.
RFK Jr. himself said last summer that he doubted he could be confirmed by the Senate because of his skepticism about vaccines along with his harsh criticism of American food processing companies.
His support for abortion rights was also a potential stumbling block for some conservative Republicans.
Like Gabbard, RFK got mixed reviews for his confirmation hearing performance. He appeared confused about the difference between Medicaid and Medicare, two sprawling programs he will oversee in his new role, and failed to effectively rebut his past statements about vaccines.
But the White House succeeded in winning over almost all Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a medical doctor who seemed frustrated with Kennedy’s refusal to accept the scientifically proven fact that vaccines do not cause autism.
