WASHINGTON — The US Senate confirmed former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as President Trump’s spy chief Wednesday, elevating the ex-Democrat and privacy hawk to a cabinet-level position in the Republican administration.

The upper chamber voted 52-48 to confirm Gabbard, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joining all 47 Democrats in opposition.

Trump later congratulated Gabbard at a White House swearing-in ceremony and said she will “eliminate corruption, shrink the bloated bureaucracy and restore honesty, integrity and trust to the national security state.”

“There’s nobody like her for this job,” he added. “This was a very easy one for me. She was recommended by some of the top people in that world.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi administered the oath of office to Gabbard as her husband, Abraham Williams, appeared to hold up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text in Hinduism, for her to swear on.

“Unfortunately, the American people have very little trust in the intelligence community, largely because they’ve seen the weaponization and politicization of an entity that is supposed to be purely focused on ensuring our national security,” Gabbard said.

“So I look forward to being able to help fulfill that mandate that the American people delivered to you [Trump] very clearly in this election to refocus our intelligence community by empowering the great patriots who have chosen to serve our country in this way and focus on ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

The Army Reserve lieutenant colonel’s ascent to serve as a principal adviser to Trump on intelligence gathered by 18 separate agencies comes after combative hearings in the Senate.

“I think it’s fair to say that Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees,” acknowledged Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) at the start of her confirmation hearing last month.

Cotton emphasized that he had combed through multiple FBI background checks, questionnaires and other documents and found Gabbard’s record was “clean as a whistle” — before accusing Democrats of questioning her “patriotism” and judgment.

Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had even “smeared” her as a “Russian asset,” Cotton noted.

McConnell forcefully disagreed with the Senate intel chair in a statement after he cast his vote against Gabbard, saying she was “unworthy of the highest public trust” and that future intelligence assessments could feasibly be “tainted” given her “history of alarming lapses in judgment.”

Those lapses included not condemning National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden’s “treasonous betrayal” of the US or Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, as well as not acknowledging Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific was not a result of “threat inflation” by the West.

“Entrusting the coordination of the intelligence community to someone who struggles to acknowledge these facts is an unnecessary risk,” McConnell said.

“So is empowering a DNI who only acknowledged the value of critical intelligence collection authorities when her nomination appeared to be in jeopardy,” he added, referencing Gabbard’s stance on warrantless surveillance of foreign terror suspects.

Cotton in his past remarks said he hoped that Gabbard’s tenure would return the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to its core mission of doing “real intelligence work,” cut its bureaucratic functions and slim down its staff.

“For too long, faulty, inadequate, or weaponized intelligence has led to costly failures and the undermining of our national security,” Gabbard told senators. “The most obvious example of one of these failures is our invasion of Iraq based upon a total fabrication or complete failure of intelligence.”

“President Trump’s re-election is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure, end the weaponization/politicization of the [intelligence community], and begin to restore trust in those who have been charged with the critical task of securing our nation,” she added.

The four-term congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate made a splash last year by endorsing Trump in the final months of the 2024 campaign.

“She is a former vice chair of the National Democratic Party. Can you believe that?” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “And here she is. But she was never a Democrat.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) earlier this week suggested that Democrats were retaliating against both Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. merely because both “became disillusioned with the Democrat Party.”

Members of Gabbard’s former party lashed out at her over past support for Snowden and statements doubting US intelligence assessments that former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad deployed chemical weapons on his own people.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the intelligence panel, called Trump’s DNI and HHS picks the “worst nominees to date” in a “sleazy, slimy cabinet.”

“This woman who can’t even call Snowden a traitor or still even blames NATO for the invasion of Ukraine,” Warner said of Gabbard in a video posted on X Wednesday, adding that all Democrats would oppose her confirmation.

In Gabbard’s confirmation hearing, she claimed that Syria’s dictator faced pointed questions from her “about his own regime’s actions, the use of chemical weapons, and the brutal tactics that were being used against his own people.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) had also taken issue with Gabbard’s past comment that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine stemmed from “legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO.”

Gabbard replied that she was “offended by the question” and “no country or group or individual will get a pass.”

Cotton made use of at least one of their former colleagues to convince Republicans with reservations: ex-Democrat-turned-independent former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who prodded GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana before they came out in support of the nominee, according tomultiple reports.

Some had also taken issue with legislation Gabbard authored in the House to repeal Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for the collection of data from overseas nationals whom the US is monitoring — even if those communications are with American citizens.

Other GOP lawmakers also balked at Gabbard’s refusal to call Snowden a “traitor” in her confirmation hearing, prompting her to put out a Newsweek op-ed vowing to stop “Snowden-like” leaks in the future.

“Snowden should have raised his concerns about illegal surveillance through authorized channels,” she wrote.

Gabbard also publicly walked back her opposition to FISA Section 702 during the confirmation process, saying in her hearing that “foreign surveillance on non-US persons overseas is critical, period.”

The Senate voted 52-46 along party lines to end debate on Gabbard’s nomination Monday after she cleared the Senate Intelligence Committee last week in another partisan vote.

Before serving in Congress, Gabbard had served in the Hawaii legislature and later deployed abroad as an Army National Guard officer during the Iraq War.

In her remarks at the White House, she recalled how Trump had expressed a desire that he would “be remembered as a peacemaker” and said “how deeply that resonates” with military members like herself.

“For those who volunteer to put their lives on the line when duty calls, but to have a president, commander-in-chief who recognizes the cost of that sacrifice and ensuring that war is the last resort, not the first,” she added. “So thank you for your leadership. On behalf of my friends here and all who wear the uniform, we’re grateful.”