Schmitt was asked if he has any concerns about Gabbard and her “history” with ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, including her claims that he was not an enemy of the United States. Gabbard said she went to Syria to “see and hear directly from the Syrian people” affected by the devastating civil war taking place, according to a blog post at the time of the 2017 meeting with Assad.

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“I know Tulsi Gabbard, she’s a patriot,” Schmitt said on ABC News’s This Week. “She served our country honorably. She, I think, fits the reform agenda. President Trump ran on disrupting permanent Washington, and having people who are going to view things differently. The intelligence agencies in this country were part of the Hunter Biden laptop, suppressing that story. There’s a lot of reform, George, that needs to happen in those agencies, Tulsi Gabbard is somebody who I think can execute on that. And she’s also somebody that believes in our Constitution, individual liberties, and I think this smearing her as some sort of foreign asset is a slur against her, and I look forward to her opportunity to answer these questions in these Senate confirmation hearings.”

When Schmitt was pressed on if he had any concerns about Gabbard and her relationship with the Assad regime, Schmitt said he does not, citing how it is not unusual for lawmakers to visit foreign countries to speak to their leaders. He argued that President Joe Biden’s lack of talking to foreign leaders has resulted in him not being respected, whereas Trump wants to engage in diplomacy.

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The Missouri senator was also asked what he thought of Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for director of the FBI, and the concerns voters may have over Patel utilizing the agency to seek revenge against Trump’s opponents. In response, Schmitt argued that statements of Patel having an “enemy’s list” is incorrect, and argued he is “the right man for the job.”

“And let’s review the tape here: the FBI was involved in spying on President Trump in 2016,” Schmitt said. “The FBI was involved in the Hunter Biden laptop coverup, they prebunked that story with Big Tech. The FBI has investigated Catholics because they attend traditional Latin Mass, and the FBI has investigated parents who show up to school board meetings because under the auspices of the Patriot Act, that agency is in desperate need of reform. Kash Patel’s very qualified, and I think he’s going to  get the support in the Senate.”

Ahead of the confirmation of Trump’s nominees, recent polling data from Fox News indicates that Gabbard faces a mixed response from respondents, with 35% wanting her confirmed and 36% saying otherwise against a margin of error of 3%. Of the survey’s 1,015 respondents, 25% had never heard of her. 

Meanwhile, the same data showed 34% wanting Patel confirmed against 38% of those who do not. 24% of respondents had not heard of him. The polling data was conducted from Dec. 6-9.