Cotton pushing to hold Ratcliffe and Gabbard hearings next week

Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee are racing to schedule confirmation hearings next week for Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe — though panel Democrats and winter weather are complicating those plans.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the new chair of the committee, wants to convene hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s two top spy picks before his inauguration on Jan. 20, his spokesperson, Patrick McCann, said in a statement Tuesday.

Trump has nominated Ratcliffe to be head of the CIA and Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.

“The Intelligence Committee, the nominees, and the transition are diligently working toward that goal,” McCann said.

But reaching that goal might be a challenge.

Committee rules stipulate that vetting paperwork for the nominees must be received by the panel at least one week before the confirmation hearings. But snow and office closures at the Office of Governmental Ethics have slowed civil servants from processing some of the necessary vetting paperwork for the two candidates.

Panel Democrats are unwilling to waive those rules in order to make an exception for the two candidates, a person familiar with the confirmation process told POLITICO. Gabbard’s nomination has drawn sharp scrutinyfor her lack of intelligence experience, sympathetic comments about Russia and for once taking a secret trip to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad.

The committee has not yet received Gabbard’s pre-hearing questionnaire, her ethics disclosure or FBI background check, the person said.

Some of that paperwork wasn’t due until Thursday.

Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard in the confirmation, said they are “working in lockstep” with Cotton to wrap the hearing before inauguration day.

Ratcliffe, a former member of Congress from Texas who served as DNI during Trump’s first term, is “hopeful his hearing will happen next week,” said a person familiar working on his confirmation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the process.

Cotton could seek a full committee vote to override the vetting rules. But it would be a tight vote on the narrowly divided committee — which has nine Republicans and eight Democrats — and one that could cast a harsh spotlight on GOP lawmakers wary about one of Trump’s picks.

The panel would still be on track to hold the confirmation hearings late next week if the vetting documents for the nominees come through in the next three days.