RFK Jr., Gabbard on Glide Path to Confirmation After White House Lobbying Push
JD Vance played prominent role in winning over skeptical Republican senators
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Feb. 4, 2025 9:21 pm ET
TULSI GABBARD, NOMINEE TO BE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, SPEAKS AT A SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HEARING.
WASHINGTON—The fates of nominees Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary were so shaky right up until the morning of their committee votes that Republicans lawmakers and White House officials weren’t sure if their nominations would survive another day.
But intense last-minute lobbying by the White House, particularly from Vice President JD Vance, helped Gabbard and Kennedy squeak through on party-line votes. Now they are on track for confirmation next week.
The two nominees had rocky confirmation hearings last week, and key GOP senators appeared to be on the verge of blocking their nominations from advancing out of committee. But Gabbard, a combat veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, got through with help from Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and other Republican senators—as well as an assist from recently retired independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
And Kennedy’s chances were boosted by an outside pressure campaign from his supporters, as well as an unusually long and detailed list of concessions he and the White House offered to one holdout Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
The latest votes show the power of Trump and his allies to keep Republican senators in line even on the most controversial picks.
Not long after the November election, Trump had assigned Vance, then still a senator, with the task of shoring up support for his most controversial and unorthodox cabinet picks. Behind the scenes, Vance—who cast a tiebreaking vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month—worked the phones and held in-person meetings to help persuade GOP senators to stay in line behind Trump’s nominees.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. TESTIFIES IN A SENATE HEARING AS NOMINEE TO LEAD THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.
The vice president spoke several times in recent days with his former Senate colleagues Bill Cassidy and Todd Young—seen as critical votes—to go over their remaining concerns. On the Finance panel, Cassidy wasn’t sold on Kennedy, while on Intelligence, Young was on the fence about Gabbard. The committees have Republican majorities of just one vote, meaning a single GOP defection could derail a nominee.
As of Tuesday morning, senior Trump advisers felt confident about Gabbard but were “50-50” about Cassidy supporting Kennedy, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some GOP members of the Senate Finance Committee said they didn’t know what Cassidy would do until he cast his “yes” vote Tuesday morning.
Cassidy, a medical doctor, detailed lengthy promises made in a series of phone calls by Kennedy and the Trump administration in explaining why he got to yes. Among the pledges Cassidy recounted: that Kennedy wouldn’t change current federal recommendations on vaccines. Kennedy has previously questioned the safety of vaccines and suggested unproven links between the shots and a range of chronic diseases, including autism.
Kennedy and the administration “reached out, seeking to reassure me, regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination,” Cassidy said in a speech on the Senate floor after the committee’s morning vote.
Through the weekend Kennedy, with back-channel support from Vance, sought to reassure Cassidy that he would support public-health priorities, people familiar with the matter said. Cassidy extracted the long list of specific promises on vaccines from Kennedy and the Trump administration within the last 24 hours before the committee vote, they said.
Cassidy faces a primary challenger and political uncertainty in the election next year. In 2021, he was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on a count of inciting insurrection related to the Capitol riot. Trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial, with the Senate falling short of the 67 votes required for conviction.
The senator revealed his internal struggle at a Health Committee hearing last week, saying that if Kennedy convinced people not to vaccinate their children it could cast a “shadow” over Trump’s legacy. “That’s my dilemma, man,” he told Kennedy.
Trump previously didn’t engage much with senators about Kennedy’s nomination, preferring his nominees show their fighting spirit, people familiar with his thinking said. But this past weekend, the Trump team sprang into action.
Cassidy spoke several times with Vance in the lead-up to the crucial committee vote, a person familiar with the matter said. The senator specifically thanked Vance for his advice in a post on X announcing his “yes” vote for Kennedy. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican and also a doctor, was among those who talked with Cassidy in the last few days, another person said.
GETTING GABBARD BACK ON TRACK
Of all Trump’s nominees, Gabbard had widely been considered the most endangered in recent weeks. Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, worked hand in hand with Gabbard, and the White House offices of legislative affairs and the vice president, every step of the confirmation process, according to a person familiar with his efforts.
Cotton helped Gabbard with written questions for the committee, a Newsweek opinion article and her testimony preparation, the person said. He also advised the White House and worked closely with Senate GOP leadership on how to effectively persuade members who might be undecided.
That push included bringing in Sinema, a Democrat turned independent who retired at the end of the last Congress, to speak with two of her former colleagues, Young and Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), in an attempt to allay their concerns. Sinema couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
At the hearing, Gabbard sought to distance herself from her prior statements about former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, including that he deserved a pardon. But she refused to answer when several senators asked her if he was a “traitor.” Snowden, who now lives in Russia, faces criminal charges in the U.S. for his leaks of a tranche of top-secret National Security Agency files to journalists.
HOW SENATORS VOTED ON TRUMP’S CABINET PICKS
Collins said Monday that she would be a yes, leaving Young, who didn’t endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, as the final question mark. Young was particularly worried about Gabbard’s view of whistleblowers and wanted assurances in writing. The senator is strongly opposed to a pardon for Snowden, said a person familiar with his thinking.
In the final few days before Tuesday’s committee vote, Young spoke extensively with Vance, who worked to secure commitments from Gabbard that Young said were necessary for his support, the person said.
As Trump allies tried to nail down the final votes, a late social-media volley threatened to undercut the effort. On Sunday, Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire adviser and chief cost-cutter, called Young a “deep state puppet” on X. But Musk followed up with another post, saying he had just had an excellent conversation with Young. “I stand corrected,” Musk wrote, and he deleted the tweet. “Senator Young will be a great ally in restoring power to the people from the vast, unelected bureaucracy.”
The two men talked for more than 15 minutes, mostly about other policy issues, said a person familiar with their discussion. Young didn’t make any commitments on his Gabbard vote, or talk about it much, the person said. Young also spoke this past weekend with Trump, who told him to vote his conscience.
Asked if Trump had twisted his arm, Young said no. “I said, ‘How important is this to you, Mr. President?’ And he said, ‘It’s important.’ But he said, “You know what, Todd, we’re going to work together on all kinds of other things to make America great again.’ And I told him I need reassurances.”
Several hours ahead of the vote on Gabbard, Young posted on X that he would vote yes.
He attached a copy of a letter to him from Gabbard that promised, among other things, to hold accountable anyone who is suspected of making an unauthorized disclosure of any intelligence program. In the letter, Gabbard also repeated her commitment that she wouldn’t make any recommendation on Snowden’s legal standing.
“I would be pretty crappy at this if I didn’t use the leverage I had,” said Young.
Kristina Peterson, Xavier Martinez and Dustin Volz contributed to this article.
Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com, Liz Essley Whyte at liz.whyte@wsj.com and Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com
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Appeared in the February 5, 2025, print edition as ‘Path Clears for Nominees RFK Jr., Gabbard’.
