With help from John Sakellariadis, Phelim Kine and Daniel Lippman
President DONALD TRUMP’s two most controversial national security Cabinet picks faced senators today in make-or-break hearings in their paths to confirmation. And it’s clear each faces a very different road in the days after they faced Senate scrutiny.
Trump’s pick to be director of the FBI, loyalist KASH PATEL, was already expected to have a much easier path to confirmation than director of national intelligence nominee TULSI GABBARD. Gabbard has faced a barrage of bad headlines in recent weeks, along with open expressions of doubt from Senate Republicans.
Democrats tried to paint the two as unqualified and extreme. But Patel locked down the backing of key swing vote THOM TILLIS of North Carolina before his hearing. He also betrayed little emotion as he faced questions from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee about past views towards the QAnon movement and the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Patel now looks to be on a much easier path to confirmation.
Gabbard, meanwhile, tussled with both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee on a litany of issues, including her experience and qualifications, her views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, past travel to Syria and Lebanon and views on section 702, a controversial government surveillance and data collection program that allows the U.S. to collect information on phone calls, texts and emails of foreign nationals without a warrant.
And more Republicans may have concerns about Gabbard than previously known. Going into the hearing, it was known that some committee Republicans, namely SUSAN COLLINS of Maine and TODD YOUNG of Indiana were already publicly expressing their concerns with Gabbard’s nomination.
Yet Sens. JOHN CORNYN of Texas, JERRY MORAN of Kansas and JAMES LANKFORD of Oklahoma, got into surprisingly tense exchanges with Gabbard over her views on the renewal of section 702, Russia’s role in instigating the war in Ukraine and her views on whether Snowden betrayed the U.S. by leaking sensitive documents about U.S. surveillance programs. Collins and Lankford in particular piggybacked off of Democrats’ questions about Snowden.
“This is a big deal to everybody here, because it’s a big deal to everybody you’ll also oversee,” said Lankford, who has previously said he’ll back her. “So, was Edward Snowden a traitor?” Gabbard dodged those questions and maintained she’d work on preventing another Snowden-style leak.
It’s unclear if this will translate into more public GOP opposition to Gabbard’s nomination, but the expressions of displeasure and skepticism will likely not assuage any concerns that Senate Intel may stonewall her nomination and that Republicans could ultimately vote against her on the Senate floor.
SECOND HOSTAGES RELEASE: After some hiccups, the militant group Hamas released eight hostages — three Israelis and five Thai citizens — from captivity in the Gaza Strip today, while Israel released 110 Palestinian detainees.
The release, shortly after a visit to Israel and Gaza from U.S. envoy to the Middle East STEVE WITKOFF, is the latest step in the first phase of a fragile cease-fire deal and pivot to negotiating a more permanent end to the conflict. Dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian detainees must be freed in the coming weeks to keep to the terms of the deal and prevent fighting from breaking out again.
D.C. CRASH INVESTIGATION: Authorities said they believe there were no survivors in the crash between a regional American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter late Wednesday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, aka DCA.
Trump, meanwhile, minutes after saying the tragedy shouldn’t be politicized during a press conference today, blamed Democrats for the crash (without offering any evidence).
Foreign nationals were on the flight, including two Russian figure skaters, according to the Russian government. Trump said the U.S. government was in contact with their foreign counterparts: “We’re calling the countries. We’ve spoken to most of them, but there were some other countries represented.”
As our colleagues Sam Ogozalek, Chris Marquette and Oriana Pawlyk report, Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) said there will be “a lot of questions” about the tragedy. Kaine has in the past raised concerns about air traffic congestion issues at DCA. Lawmakers “have been pretty plain about our concerns, but it isn’t a good time to speculate right now,” he told reporters, adding that he has faith that the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the crash will provide answers.
TRUMP SERIOUS ON GREENLAND: Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO made it clear Trump wasn’t messing around in his quest to acquire Greenland, our colleague AMANDA FRIEDMAN writes.
“This is not a joke,” Rubio said today in an interview with conservative talk show host Megyn Kelly.
“President Trump, what he has said publicly is he wants to buy it. He wants to pay for it,” Rubio continued. “And how we worked on something like that, how something like that is approached, obviously is probably done better in the appropriate forums as opposed, a lot of this stuff is done publicly and it’s not helpful because it puts the other side in a tough spot domestically.”
Does Greenland get a vote? If so, things aren’t looking good for Trump’s plans according to the latest polls. And Denmark and Greenlandic officials have repeatedly said the Arctic island is not for sale.
Related: Panama’s president ahead of Rubio’s visit: ‘I cannot negotiate’ on the canal by our own GREGORY SVIRNOVSKIY and our colleague ALI BIANCO
IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at rgramer@politico.com and ebazail@politico.com, and follow Robbie and Eric on X @RobbieGramer and @ebazaileimil.
While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s global security team: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, and @johnnysaks130
TRUMP TEAM’S 702 UNITY: Trump may have opposed section 702 last year, but it seems like his picks to lead the nation’s top law enforcement and intelligence agencies feel more satisfied with last year’s reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Gabbard, who introduced legislation as a member of Congress that would have ended the program, said she supports “targeted” use of the Section 702 program. But she still would want to see law enforcement obtain warrants before accessing the data.
Others are even more supportive. Patel told Senate Judiciary members that the warrant requirement would be “impractical” and “almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission.” That echoes the view of CIA Director JOHN RATCLIFFE, who voiced support for the program in his hearing earlier this month.
Trump’s pick to be Attorney General, former Florida top prosecutor PAM BONDI, did not specifically state at her confirmation hearing earlier this month whether she’d support mandating warrants, but emphasized that “702’s a very important tool … extremely important.”
It’s striking since Trump came out swinging against the program just last year, throwing a tenuous reauthorization effort in Congress into serious question. Congress ultimately reauthorized the program for two years with some concessions granted to lawmakers concerned about civil liberties. Lawmakers will soon have to revisit the debate.
DEEP DIVE ON DEEPSEEK: British officials are examining the national security implications of DeepSeek, whose AI model has caused panic in Silicon Valley and sparked fears China has leap-frogged ahead of the West in the global tech race, as our own Tom Bristow and Pieter Haeck report (for Pros!).
Britain’s Technology Secretary PETER KYLE told them: “We scrutinize every innovation of the size and scale and impact of DeepSeek and we will make sure that it goes through the right system” and added that Britain’s intelligence and security apparatus will examine the AI program to “make sure that safety is there from the onset.”
WHAT’S ON WICKER’S WISHLIST: The new chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.) has outlined plans to boost the U.S. defense budget by a whopping $200 billion in the next congressional funding package. (As the late Illinois Democratic Sen. EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN once said: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”)
So what could that extra $200 billion go toward? Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. JOHN G. FERRARI breaks down the proposal in a new piece for Breaking Defense, and argues that a significant chunk of it should pivot away from the traditional world of defense procurement for large, costly platforms toward a “a future of mass production and mass customization.”
“If Ukraine can produce four million drones per year, certainly, with $35 billion per year, every year starting in FY26, the United States can change the arc of its defense industrial base and boost the efforts of the non-traditional defense firms,” Ferrari writes.
SFRC’S EYES ON CHINA: If U.S. senators can’t agree on a whole lot in the Trump era, they at least still agree on one thing: China is a huge threat.
That slice of bipartisanship was on full display today at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which held one of its first hearings of the year on “the malign influence” of China. The hearing, convened by Chair JIM RISCH (R-Idaho) and ranking member JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.) offered a preview of what the Senate’s legislative agenda could include in the coming months on the foreign policy front.
“I hope that we can close the loopholes that allow for foreign agents to lobby government officials, reform our visa process to screen those who pose an intelligence risk and encourage our national security community to play a larger role to counter the Chinese influence in American universities,” Risch said at the hearing.
MAST’S HIRING HEADACHE: The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Republican majority briefly hired — then quickly un-hired — a staffer who had served as a lobbyist for Chinese companies, as our own Phelim Kine reported in this morning’s China Watcher.
MARK AITKEN announced on LinkedIn he was hired to be majority staff director for the committee’s East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee. But the news caused internal backlash as he previously served as a lobbyist for Chinese drone firm DJI and as public affairs vice president for Chinese fast fashion firm Shein.
Shortly after China Watcher asked the House Foreign Affairs Committee for comment on his new job, Aitken was out. A spokesperson for committee Republicans said in a statement that he “no longer works for the committee,” without providing more details. Aitken took down his LinkedIn post and didn’t respond to a request for comment.
MARCOS ON MISSILES: Philippine President FERDINAND MARCOS JR. blasted Beijing today in response to the Chinese government’s criticism of Manila’s move to accept the deployment of the ship-killing U.S. Typhon intermediate missile system, Phelim writes in.
“We don’t make any comments on their missile systems and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have,” Marcos told reporters today. Marcos drew a line between increasingly aggressive China Coast Guard incursions into Philippine waters of the South China Sea and Manila’s need for the Typhons.
“Let’s make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory; stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living; stop ramming our boats; stop water cannoning our people; stop firing lasers at us; and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior and I’ll return the Typhon missiles,” Marcos said.
The U.S. transferred Typhons to the Philippines last year for a training exercise and they remain in place despite Beijing’s protests.
— MEG O’NEILL and CAROL KOENIGSBERG have joined Bazze, a California-based AI data platform service focused on national security, as strategic advisors. Both O’Neill and Koenigsberg are former senior U.S. intelligence officials.
— Saudi Arabia’s government-owned defense major SAMI has appointed THAMER ALMUHID as its new CEO. AlMuhid previously served as CEO of the Saudi Chemical Company and on the board of the country’s National Academy of Military Industries.
— JOSH RUBIN will be senior vice president of global strategy and chief of staff at the Motion Picture Association. He most recently was director for Indo-Pacific affairs at the White House National Security Council.
— Nick Paton Walsh, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Rebecca Wright and Victoria Butenko, CNN: American fighters are dying in Ukraine in growing numbers. Bringing their bodies home is a complex task
— GRANT WYETH, The Diplomat: AUKUS in the age of Trump 2.0
— Women’s Foreign Policy Group, 9:30 a.m.: “View from the Crossroads of Europe and Asia” with former Georgian Ambassador to the United States BATU KUTELIA focusing on Russia’s role in global democracy backsliding
— National Institute for Deterrence Studies, 10 a.m.: The Middle East missile update and the Iranian nuclear threat
— Brookings Institution, 10 a.m.: Fit to fight: Analyzing women’s roles in the U.S. military
— Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, 3 p.m.: A film screening and discussion on “Intercepted,” focusing on “contrasting images of the damage caused by the Russian military in Ukraine with intercepted phone calls between Russian soldiers and their families”
Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who should face a grilling from senators.
Thanks to our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, who would be confirmed by unanimous vote.