Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick to be Director of National Intelligence, refused to call Edward Snowden a traitor at her confirmation hearing.
Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's nominee to serve as the director of national intelligence, will testify Thursday morning at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The 43-year-old former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and combat veteran would oversee the nation's 18 spy agencies.
Tulsi Gabbard’s past statements on Syria, Russia, Ukraine and warrantless spying have all given Republican senators pause. But for some lawmakers another issue looms just as large: Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who released reams of classified data on American surveillance programs in 2013 and then fled to Russia.
Tulsi Gabbard, then a Hawaii congresswoman and Democratic hopeful for president, appeared on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast and made an impassioned case for pardoning Edward Snowden. The former U.S. intelligence contractor,
When one lawmaker asked if she believed Mr. Snowden was a traitor, Ms. Gabbard simply said that she was ‘focused on the future.’
Tulsi Gabbard fought back against what she called “smears,” declaring she is nobody’s “puppet” before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard's previous comments about Snowden, responsible for one of the most damaging leaks of sensitive U.S. intelligence, were the focal point of her hearing.
Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence — faces skepticism over past comments from Democrats and Republicans
Senators also questioned Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence over whether a controversial spying authority needed additional reforms in place.
In 2020, then-Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard introduced legislation calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who in 2013 revealed the existence of the bulk collection of American phone records by the NSA before fleeing to Russia.
Senate Intelligence members pressed Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee to be director of national intelligence, on her national security record.