Gabbard’s dodges about whether she thinks Snowden is a traitor worsens questions about her confirmation chances

Cnn
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By 2020, the then Democratic Congress Woman Tulsi Gabbard introduced legislation, calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden, the National Security Agent Entrepreneur, who in 2013 revealed the existence of the bulk collection of US telephone registers of the NSA before fled to Russia.

On Thursday, she denied questions from Republican and Democratic legislators in the Senate Intelligence Committee to say if she now thought Snowden’s actions were treacherous.

Gabbard’s repeated dodges during her nomination hearing to become President Donald Trump’s director of National Intelligence may have further imperilated a nomination that already seemed to be on a knife edge.

“Was he a traitor at the time he took America’s secrets, released them publicly and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen?” asked Republican Senator James Lankford in a wide range of questions describing the broad sense of the intelligence community that Snowden’s actions meant betrayal of treason.

“I’m focused on the future and how we can prevent something similar from happening again,” Gabbard said. She sought to put reforms that she would take on to prevent future leaks on the scale of Snowden’s, including “to ensure that every person in the workforce knows about the legal alert channels available to them.”

In other moments, she gave the same answer almost verbatim, an answer that suggests that she still sees value in his actions: “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said. But, she said, “He, even when he broke the law, released information that exposed creepy, illegal and constitutional programs that are happening within our government leading to serious reforms.”

Even when pressed several times for a yes-or-nothing response by a visible angry democratic senator Michael Bennet, Gabbard deceived quietly and stole to give one.

Gabbard’s view of surveillance – and Snowden – had already disturbed Republicans in the committee where she can’t afford to even lose a single GOP voting if she has to move on to the full Senate.

GOP -SEN. Susan Collins, seen as a potential Wobbly vote, said shortly after the hearing that she still hasn’t decided yet if she wants to support Gabbard.

The Maine Republicans told journalists later Thursday night that she was “happy” with Gabbard’s answer to her questions and pointed to Gabbard and said she would not recommend a pardon for Snowden.

Tip for the central role that her view of surveillance is likely to play in her success or failure at the committee level, Gabbard was also pressured by Democratic Vice -President late. Mark Warner, among others, on a visible face she has made on her views of section 702 of the Foreign Information Act.

The law is seen by most legislators in the committee as a critical surveillance tool for protecting the United States against Terrorism-but as a democratic member of Congress Gabbard had called for her wholesale highscope weeks, she has signaled her support for its use.

Gabbard said reforms had been made to the law since her time in Congress, which had led her to support the law; Warner pressed her, “What reforms?”

“There are a number of reforms -” she said. Warner pointed out that after the reforms had already passed in the law, she told podcaster Joe Rogan that the reforms had made the law “worse.”

Republican Senator John Cornyn thought at one point that publicly asked her about her basic understanding of section 702; Several sources that are familiar with her closed door meetings with legislators in advance of her confirmation said some senators said she seemed to be in line with she understood one of the government’s most significant surveillance authorities.

“What would it be necessary to be shown to establish a probable cause of a judge to get an order?” Cornyn asked and referred to a debate as to whether a justification should be required for the FBI to apply in section 702 holdings for American information.

“It’s not for me to say,” Gabbard said.

“You know that? What the elements of probable reason are and whether it is a practical and useful solution? “Cornyn pressed.

In his prepared opening declaration, Gabbard specifically declared that title in the FISA had been used to monitor the page.

Gabbard was also questioned – and the defense against – some of the more sensational accusations against her, including demands from critics that she has publicly adopted Russian propaganda positions in relation to the US views. She sought to ward off criticism that a controversial 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad raised questions about her verdict.

In a remarkable partisan opening declaration for a nominee to lead the American intelligence community, aim Gabbard against “political opponents” and “Democratic Senators”, which she said had led to anti-Hinduistic Bigotry against her over her connections to a fringe from shooter hare krishna -The movement and painted her as a “puppet” of Trump, Russia and others.

“The fact is what really disturbs my political opponents is that I refuse to be their doll,” Gabbard said.

“I want to warn the American people who look at home: You can hear lies and smears that challenge my loyalty to and love to our country,” she said. “They used the same tactics against President Trump and failed. The American people chose President Trump with a crucial victory and mandate for change. ”

At one point, she told Republican Senator Jerry Moran that she was “offended” by a question he asked whether Russia would “get a passport in either your mind or your heart or in any political recommendation you would ask.”

Warner pressed Gabbard on statements in which she “accused NATO of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022” and “rejected the conclusion that Assad was using chemical weapons in Syria, despite it being the unanimous assessment of the then Trump administration’s death, State Department and IC.

“It leads me to question whether you can develop the confidence needed to give our allied confidence that they can share their most sensitive intelligence with us,” Warner said. “Make no mistake if they stop sharing this intelligence, the United States will be less secure.”

Warner questioned whether Gabbard had the “qualifications to meet the standards established.”

Gabbard has obtained the approval of the committee’s chairman, Senator Tom Cotton, who pointed to his military service and emphasized that five FBI background control was “pure as a flute.”

This story has been updated with further reporting.

CNNS Ted Barrett contributed to this report.