Gabbard confirmed as US intel chief

WASHINGTON: Tulsi Gabbard, a former U.S. representative with little intelligence experience, was confirmed as the top U.S. spy on Wednesday, as Republicans lined up behind a nominee once seen as among President Donald Trump’s most controversial picks.

The Senate voted 52 to 48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Gabbard to the position overseeing the 18-agency intelligence community and acting as Trump’s top adviser on intelligence issues.

The only Republican to vote against Gabbard was Senator Mitch McConnell, the party’s former leader in the chamber. No Democrats or independents voted in favor of the nominee.

The vote was another victory for Trump as he pushes to secure quick Senate approval for all of his nominees for administration positions.

The Senate’s Republican majority leader, John Thune, held a procedural vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also faced fierce opposition to his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, immediately after the Gabbard confirmation vote.

Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat, had faced bipartisan questions about past statements seen as supporting U.S. adversaries, and lack of experience that would have prepared her to manage a $100 billion budget. Gabbard neither worked at a spy agency nor served on an intelligence committee during her four House of Representatives terms.