Tulsi Gabbard grilled at Snowden, Assad and Putin in Tense Senate Hearing | Trump -Administration

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominees for National Intelligence Director, refused to call the warning Edward Snowden a “traitor”, but tried to empty her unorthodox view of foreign dictators and resistance to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to monitor scattered intelligence community.

In a three-hour consultation for the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard, a former congregation, and member of the Hawaii Army National Guard, partly her views that Russia was provoked to invade Ukraine that she had “no love” for Syrian dictator Bashar al- Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017.

Gabbard, who has relentlessly criticized the US intelligence community, which she now aims to lead, has said that she has been the goal of “lies and smears” prior to a committee reconciliation where she cannot afford to lose support from a single Republican Member.

Skeptical senators said she was unfit to act as national intelligence director because of questions about her “judgment” in previous statements about Vladimir Putin’s “Legitimate Security Concerns” in Ukraine, an independent visit in 2017 in Damascus, where she met Assad, As well as her support for Snowden, which she admitted, had “broken the law”, but refused to condemn as a “traitor” despite heated – and sometimes shouted – questioned from Democrats in the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

“Those who are against my nomination suggest that I am loyal to something or other than God, my own conscience and the constitution of the United States that accuse me of being Trump’s doll, Putin’s puppet, Assad’s puppet, a guru’s puppet, Modis puppet, not to recognize the absurdity of being the puppet for five different puppet masters at the same time, ”she said.

“The fact is that what really disturbs my political opponents is that I refuse to be their doll,” she said. “I have no love for Assad or Gaddafi or any dictator. I just hate al-Qaeda. I hate that we have leaders who have fun up to Islamist extremists. “

Gabbard, who was dressed in a snow-white pantsuit and sweater, replied in a smooth baritone as she diminished her criticism of the US intelligence, including her previous efforts to shut up it FISA section 702 Law that allows electronic monitoring abroad without a justification. She now supports the approval of the law.

“I do not find your change of heart credible,” said Mark Warner, the directors of the committee, indicating that it and her previous support for Snowden were important concerns for the members of the committee.

Gabbard’s hearing was a tight walk. A majority of members of the Senate Intelligence Committee must support her in order for her candidacy to move on to a floor vote in the Senate. A number of US media including Fox News on Thursday reported that she did not yet have the votes to win confirmation.

Her candidacy was also threatened by a number of recent leaks in the press. The New York Times reported this week that the US intelligence had captured a phone call between two Hezbollah operatives that said that Gabbard was greeted with “The Big Guy” during a visit to Lebanon in 2017indicating a senior Hezbollah official.

During the hearing, Gabbard refused to have met Hezbollah operatives and said it was an “absurd accusation”.

These ties to foreign governments were an important problem for the members of the committee before the consultation. “There is real concern about her contacts (in Syria) and that she does not share the same sympathy and values ​​as the intelligence community,” a person who is familiar with discussions among senior intelligence officials previously told The Guardian. “She’s historically unsuitable.”

During the consultation, Colorado senator Michael Bennet attacked Gabbard for a tweet, Russia’s legitimate security concerns recognized. “

While not explaining these comments, she indicated that she had had a heart change. Asked mute who she accused of the war between Russia and Ukraine, she said, “Putin started the invasion of Ukraine.”

Still, the strongest questions considered her previous support for Snowden, which she admitted had broken US laws by taking a trove of top secret intelligence documents while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency and later leaking them to media, including The Guardian.

“Is Edward Snowden a traitor: Yes or No?” Gabbard was asked by successive democratic senators, including Bennet.

“Snowden broke the law,” Gabbard said. “He released information about the United States … I have several immediate steps that I would take to prevent another Snowden.”

“This is when the rubber hits the road,” repeated Bennet and demanded a “yes” or “no” answer. “This is not a moment for social media. It’s not a moment to spread conspiracy theories … This is where you need to answer questions from the people whose votes you ask for. “

These questions were foreseen by Snowden himself, who wrote in a tweet on Thursday that Gabbard would be “required to refuse all prior support to alerts as a confirmation condition”.

“I encourage her to do it. Tell them that I hurt the national security and the sweet, soft feelings of the staff, ”he said. “In DC, that’s what goes to the mortgage on allegiance.”

The committee is expected to hold a closed session to discuss sensitive affairs later on Thursday and then move to voting “as soon as possible”. said Tom Cotton, committee chairman.

“Obviously, we did not choose this nominee,” said Bennet, Gabbard’s most vocal skeptical. “But can’t we do better than anyone who doesn’t believe in (Fisa Law) 702? Can we believe that someone who can’t answer if Snowden was a traitor five times today who made excuses for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? “