A top conservative grassroots group is launching a six-figure ad campaign to support the swift confirmation of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
The $150,000 static digital ad campaign will target nine states with a "soft appeal" to voters who might, in turn, contact their senators and express how Trump "has a mandate from the American people," Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said Thursday.
Walker said the $150,000 is the first tranche of $1 million the group has allocated through Inauguration Day to push for Americans to ask their senators to support the nominees.
The first ad of the campaign sought to bolster Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth, and the overall initial ad buy will last through Dec. 31.
Other ads have or will highlight former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Kash Patel and former Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi – all of whom are Trump Cabinet nominees.
This initial buy, Walker said, focuses on Alaska, Maine, Louisiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.
While most similar advertising campaigns may seek to appeal to voters in "swing states" or in a particular region of the country, the states included here have a unique link, Walker said.
Some of the states included in the first ad buy are home to senators who either appear on the fence or have not stated a solid commitment for or against nominees like Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel.
Alaska and Maine are represented by two high-profile moderate Republicans – Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, respectively.
Both women voted to impeach Trump, but both also were supportive of some of the president-elect’s policies as well.
"[Trump has] really about 18 months to get a substantial amount of his agenda through before the midterms. And time is of the essence in getting these folks, these Cabinet nominees, in a timely manner," Walker said.
"Uniting the Republican conference around them is what we're trying to accomplish here."
Walker said Heritage Action is focusing on public commentary from senators in the target states, and also is very much in tune with which nominees are in the news or spending time on Capitol Hill on certain days.
Last week and this week, Hegseth made the rounds seeking support for his confirmation, so the campaign began with the former Fox News host, Walker suggested.
Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to visit Washington for the same purpose, and the advertising campaign is ready to pivot to focus on the Democratic Party scion if necessary.
"We want to remain flexible in this campaign to be able to highlight in different states… or different nominees, depending on what the conversation is in the Senate," Walker said, adding a direct-text-message campaign will also follow this initial advertising endeavor.
First on Fox: Hundreds of veterans across the nation are offering their unequivocal support to former Democrat Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence under President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration, Fox News Digital has learned.
"President Donald Trump’s selection of Tulsi Gabbard reflects a profound recognition of her steadfast dedication to our nation and her unwavering commitment to safeguarding the American people. While most Americans know Tulsi as a fearless and principled Congresswoman who stood up to entrenched political systems, we know her as a fellow veteran—one whose worldview was forged through the crucible of serving in combat zones and a lifelong devotion to service," reads a letter, "American Veterans for Tulsi Gabbard," which was published Monday and obtained by Fox News Digital.
More than 250 veterans signed the letter, including high-profile and nationally known names such as retired Gen. Michael Flynn, former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, Arizona Rep. Rep. Eli Crane, Florida Rep. Brian Mast and political commentator Jack Posobiec.
"Because of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, Tulsi answered the call of duty, enlisted in the Army, and stepped away from her position as a Hawaii State Representative when she volunteered to deploy to Iraq with her unit. Instead of using her political status to avoid deployment, Tulsi volunteered to serve in a medical unit in Iraq, directly facing the harsh realities, costs, and traumas of war," the letter continues.
"Her commitment to service did not end there," it added, before pointing to Gabbard’s 22 years of standing "shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow servicemembers," including when she served in the House.
"As a Member of Congress and as a civilian, Tulsi has been a stalwart advocate for veterans' health concerning toxic exposures and cancer care as a result of our fellow veterans' military service. Tulsi’s life exemplifies a rare blend of selflessness, courage, and leadership—qualities desperately needed to reform and strengthen our intelligence community," the letter says.
Nearly 70% of the veterans who signed the letter worked in special operations and/or intelligence, while about 54% of the signatories are retired service members, and the vast majority of signers overall saw combat while in the military, Fox News Digital learned.
Trump nominated Gabbard just days after his election win over Democrat Vice President Harris last month, arguing Gabbard will bring a "fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength." The director of national intelligence leads the U.S. intelligence community, which includes overseeing the National Intelligence Program and advising the president on security matters.
Gabbard has served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves since 2021, after previously serving in the Hawaii Army National Guard for about 17 years.
She was elected to the U.S. House representing Hawaii during the 2012 election cycle, serving as a Democrat until 2021. She did not seek re-election to that office after throwing her hat in the 2020 White House race.
Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, registering as an independent, before becoming a member of the GOP this year and offering her full endorsement of Trump amid his presidential campaign.
She is anticipated to head to Capitol Hill this week to speak with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and GOP leadership to rally support for her confirmation proceedings. Critics have attempted to paint Gabbard as a national security risk who is sympathetic to U.S. adversaries, a narrative the veterans combated in the letter.
"The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes, and so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check," Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, for example, recently said of Gabbard.
The veterans hit back at such critics, saying they are spreading "baseless lies" because they are "unable and unwilling to challenge the substance of her views."
"We are appalled by the baseless attacks questioning Tulsi’s loyalty to our great nation. For over 20 years and across multiple combat deployments, Tulsi has risked her life to defend the safety, security and freedom of the American people. These attacks insult not only her, but every one of us Veterans who have served our country," the letter reads.
"Tulsi’s patriotism, shaped on the battlefield, mirrors the values and aspirations of the American people far more than the failed policies of so called ‘experts’ in Washington, who have been part of the problem for too long."
Gabbard has been outspoken against creating new wars, declaring in her speech in October during Trump’s historic Madison Square Garden rally that a vote for Harris was a vote for "war."
"I've served now for over 21 years. I've deployed to different war zones three times over that period, and I've seen the cost of war for my brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price. I carry their memories and their sacrifice in my heart every day. So, this choice that we have before us as Americans is critical. It's important to us. It's important to those of us who serve, who have volunteered to put our lives on the line for the safety, security and freedom of our country and our people," she said.
"A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney. And it's a vote for war, more war, likely World War III and nuclear war. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a man who wants to end wars, not start them, and who has demonstrated already that he has the courage and strength to stand up and fight for peace," she continued.
The veterans in their letter celebrated that Trump and his upcoming administration have "a clear mandate to enhance national security without engaging in needless wars or infringing on civil liberties" and that Gabbard will "carry out that mandate" if confirmed.
"We are deeply grateful to President Trump for appointing Tulsi Gabbard to this critical role and proud to stand beside her – a leader whose courage and convictions we know firsthand. A warrior whose vote cannot be bought, and whose integrity cannot be folded. We are honored to call her one of our own," they wrote.
If President-elect Donald Trump has his way, Tulsi Gabbard will be at the helm of U.S. intelligence and Matt Gaetz will be leading the Justice Department, giving whistle-blower Edward Snowden his best chance yet at a life of freedom in the U.S.
Both Gabbard, a former Hawaii House Democrat, and Gaetz, a former House Republican from Florida, will have to be confirmed by the Senate — an uphill battle that may be made more difficult by their anti-establishment beliefs that Snowden should not be punished for revealing information about classified surveillance programs.
As members of Congress, both Gabbard and Gaetz co-sponsored legislation that called on the federal government to drop all charges against Snowden. During her 2020 presidential campaign, Gabbard promised to protect Snowden and people like him, if elected.
"If it wasn’t for Snowden, the American people would never have learned the NSA was collecting phone records and spying on Americans," she said on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast at the time.
"As president, I will protect whistle-blowers who expose threats to our freedom and liberty," Gabbard added.
On Sept. 3, 2020, Gaetz posted to X: "Pardon @Snowden."
In 2013, Snowden was working as an IT contractor for the National Security Agency when he traveled to Hong Kong to meet with three journalists and transferred them thousands of pages of classified documents about the U.S. government’s surveillance of its citizens.
He then traveled to Russia and planned to head on to Ecuador, but federal authorities canceled his passport before he could get there — and indicted him for espionage.
He attempted to gain asylum elsewhere, but ultimately remained in Russia and became a naturalized citizen in 2022.
The documents he made public revealed previously classified intelligence-gathering programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the U.K.’s intelligence organization, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), that were conducting surveillance on their own citizens.
In 2019, Snowden told NPR the U.S. government was "collecting [data] on everyone, everywhere, all of the time, just in case, because you never know what’s going to be interesting… And so what happened was every time we wrote an email, every time you typed something into that Google search box, every time your phone moved, you sent a text message, you made a phone call… the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment were being changed."
At the time of the leak, the NSA claimed mass surveillance stopped terrorist attacks.
Sue Gordon, deputy director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration, issued a warning about Gabbard’s push for Snowden to be pardoned on CBS this week.
"Unauthorized disclosures of intelligence are always bad. Don’t go with the good or bad, any good outcome or whether he was right or wrong. He had no authority, and he had different paths, and he harmed America," she said.
"He not only harmed intelligence, he harmed our allies and partners, and he harmed our businesses by what it allowed China to assume about that. There is nothing justifiable about what he’s done. None. And so if they vacate it, what they’re basically saying is all those rules you follow in order to be able to serve America, they don’t matter anymore."
In 2013, Trump was asked about Snowden. "This guy is a bad guy and there is still a thing called execution!" he said.
But on the campaign trail in 2020, he struck a more sympathetic tone, saying he'd "look at" giving Snowden a pardon.
Snowden, in 2019, said he is not searching for a pardon, but rather a fair trial in order to return to the U.S.
"One of the big topics in Europe right now is — should Germany and France invite me in to get asylum?… And of course, I would like to return to the United States. That is the ultimate goal," he said.
"But if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison, the one bottom-line demand that we all have to agree to is that at least I get a fair trial. And that’s the one thing the government has refused to guarantee because they won’t provide access to what’s called a public interest defense," the whistleblower said.
"I’m not asking for a parade. I’m not asking for a pardon. I’m not asking for a pass. What I’m asking for is a fair trial. And this is the bottom-line that any American should require."
