Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, began meeting with senators on Monday, kicking off what could be a challenging confirmation process over her foreign policy positions. 

Gabbard’s first meetings come days after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Gabbard’s 2017 visit to Syria as a member of Congress and subsequent support for then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been seen as a major stumbling block to her confirmation.

Gabbard told reporters in between meetings with senators on Monday, “I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days with regards to the developments in Syria.”

“My own views and experiences have been shaped by my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war and the threat of Islamist terrorism. It’s one of the many reasons why I appreciate President Trump’s leadership and his election,” Gabbard said. “He is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bringing about an end to wars, demonstrating peace through strength, and putting the national security interests and the safety, security and freedom of the American people first and foremost.”

One Republican senator, who has not yet met with Gabbard personally, told Jewish Insider late Monday that some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee had told colleagues that they were not impressed with her performance during their interviews. 

“The Intelligence Committee members are really, really concerned about her. Her interviews have not been going well,” the senator said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “One told me she was the worst-prepared candidate and was kind of trying to get by on her BS personality. So there’s a lot of rumbling among members.”

Another Republican who sits on the Intelligence Committee said it was too soon to tell if Gabbard could survive her confirmation battle.

“I can’t tell, she’s just gotten started. She had her first few meetings today, but she’s got a long way to go,” the senator said, adding that they thought she “did a good job” in her meeting with their office. 

Committee members who spoke to reporters after meetings with Gabbard on Monday did not commit to supporting her nomination, but rather said they treated their discussions as opening steps. 

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) described their conversation as a “good first meeting” and an “opportunity to share with her what she’s going to be going through.”

“Part of our job here is not only getting to the point of approval because that’s well over a month away yet, but helping to provide assistance in getting her there,” Rounds said. “So a lot of it was just advice in terms of the questions that she’s going to get, the questions she’s going to have to be prepared to answer.”

One of those questions that Rounds said she’ll have to face in both public and classified testimony will be about her past comments sympathetic to Assad — questions which will be particularly salient given recent events. Rounds said he asked Gabbard about that issue in their meeting.

Rounds said he had no issue with Gabbard going to meet with Assad, but “what you have to be concerned about is, is, do [nominees] espouse a view, express a point of view from that organization that might be different than what our positions are?”

Rounds said that “in some areas [Gabbard] does a great job already” but she also has to be ready for a range of questions in her upcoming hearings. He said he’s not yet decided on how he’ll vote and is “just helping.”

Other senators who are hawkish on Syria and broader Middle East policy similarly expressed interest in asking her more questions about her foreign policy positions. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who does not serve on the Intelligence Committee and has not said how he plans to vote on the nomination, told reporters that he had additional questions for Gabbard after his meeting with her, describing her more dovish foreign policy views as “not disqualifying.”

“I’m gonna ask her some questions about her thinking — she objected to killing [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem] Soleimani,” Graham continued.

Another Republican senator who has not committed to voting for Gabbard told JI on condition of anonymity, “I voted for 100% of all the [nominees] coming out of committee for Trump in the first administration. I’d like to do the same thing, but we’ve got to make sure that they’re answering these questions and they get good reports out of committees.”

Several senators defended Gabbard’s qualifications for the job. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who served with Gabbard in the House and is supporting her nomination, defended her controversial 2017 trip to Syria to meet with Assad, arguing that “What was happening in 2017 is completely different than what is going on today.” 

“In 2017 we didn’t even know Iran was plussing up Assad the way they were. We knew Russia was controlling this, but there was a completely different perspective,” Mullin said, later adding, “She serves at the will of the president of the United States. They’re going to be on the same page.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) called Gabbard “immensely intelligent and a long-time friend” and “highly vetted.”

“I think she’s one we can certainly trust,” Budd said.