Top Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee say they still do not have an FBI background check or ethics disclosures from the Office of Government Ethics as of Monday afternoon, causing unease as they look to probe Gabbard’s overall qualifications to become the Director of National Intelligence. 

Committee rules require that a confirmation hearing cannot be held until seven days after the panel receives a “background questionnaire, financial disclosure statement, and responses to additional pre-hearing questions.” 

“Particularly in the national security context, it’s critical that you have these documents,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the committee.

“We’re going to insist on these documents before we go forward. I mean, that’s just kind of a nonnegotiable. You can’t do ‘advice and consent’ without it,” he added.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the panel, had initially planned to hold Gabbard’s hearing before Inauguration Day, but the criticism from Democrats on the panel appears to have delayed the advancement of one of Trump’s key national security nominees. Cotton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

“Technically, Sen. Cotton could hold a vote of the panel and could bypass the minority’s objections and could go ahead and schedule the hearing, but I just don’t see that happening,” said a Senate aide speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Senate leaders have long prided themselves on bipartisanship on this committee, especially in comparison to the absolute chaos we’ve seen on this committee on the House side.”

“I just don’t see how forcing a hearing on this one could benefit either side,” the person added. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) continues to call for a “thorough nominations process” and “regular order” for the president-elect’s nominees.

“Unfortunately, a troubling pattern emerged last week from some Republican chairs who seem eager to rush the nomination process without fully getting all the necessary documentation,” Schumer said, speaking on the Senate floor on Monday. “Getting documents is not trivial, busy work.”

“If these nominees have something to hide, these documents could show it. So it’s important we don’t rush to hearings without examining the record first. The more Senate Republicans try to rush the process without the proper documentation, the more Americans will ask themselves, ‘what are Republicans and their nominees trying to hide’,” Schumer added.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 2 ranking Republican, said he expects Gabbard’s hearing to happen next week during an interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

“It’s a paperwork problem right now. The Office of Government Ethics, we had hoped to have the hearing later this week, it looks like it’s going to be the following week,” Barrasso said.

Gabbard’s ethics disclosures along with several other nominees had been delayed from last week’s snowstorm in the Washington, D.C., area, which closed down federal government operations for a few days, according to a source familiar. 

The holdup appears to be part of a larger theme. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) decided on Monday to postpone the confirmation hearing for Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Interior, for two days due to a “bureaucratic delay.” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) also postponed a confirmation hearing for former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, who was nominated to be secretary of Veterans Affairs, after the FBI did not complete its customary background check in time.

While no Republican has come out against Gabbard’s nomination, there are senators on both sides of the aisle who have expressed concern about her meeting with now-ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2017. In some meetings with GOP lawmakers, Gabbard had indicated that her meeting with Assad was unplanned and that she had initially only intended to visit Lebanon, according to a source familiar. There are still a number of Republicans who have not committed to supporting her nomination just yet.

“Do I think she can [get confirmed]? — Yes, absolutely, but I think there’s got to be a lot of preparation behind the scenes for her hearing to ensure she gives disciplined answers,” said a Republican consultant, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

While Republican senators aren’t airing those concerns publicly, Democrats who met with her are speaking out.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who sat down with the former Democratic congresswoman last week, said he’s still unsettled about Gabbard’s visit to Syria and her attempt to argue Assad wasn’t using chemical weapons on Syria’s civilians.

“I have a hard time understanding why you would want to do that, to use your political capital to try to prove something when there are multiple cases,” Kelly said on Face the Nation.

Last week, Gabbard said she supports Section 702 in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives the U.S. the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens located abroad. Her position was a major reversal following her past votes in Congress in which she voted against reauthorizing the program, citing privacy concerns.

Her embrace of the program was enough to convince some GOP lawmakers to support her nomination. In an interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he was ready to support Gabbard’s nomination following her comments on Section 702 last week.

“That was a very important piece for me,” Lankford said during the interview, referring to Gabbard’s comments on the program. “Obviously she voted against 702 authority. And just to clarify that, that authority is for actually trying to be able to track terrorists overseas. That has nothing to do with American citizens or anything that’s happening in the United States.”

Trump can only afford three defections within the Senate Republican Conference to get his picks confirmed, as the GOP holds a 53-seat majority.

Current Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was the first of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet officials who was confirmed in the Senate on Inauguration Day in 2021, with a bipartisan vote of 84-10.

This week, Gabbard continues her meetings with senators. By the end of the week, she will have sat down with Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Kennedy (R-LA), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Katie Britt (R-AL), and Lee.