Meaning | ‘Her opening line was a home drive’: The best and worst moments from Tulsi Gabbard -Hearing

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Of President Trump’s cabinet election, Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii representative, could have the most difficult time to do so through the verification process. On Thursday, with several important senators still indecisive, she showed up to the Senate Intelligence Committee for an important hearing as the senators grilled her on her previous comments about Edward Snowden and her unorthodox view of Russia and Syria. Here are what times Opinions -SPalists and contributors thought of her performance.

Michelle Goldberg Senator Mark Kelly’s question about Gabbard’s skepticism about Bashar al-Assad behind two chemical weapons attacks in Syria was pointed and effective. Kelly demonstrated her intentional credibility in the light of questionable characters that tell her what she wants to hear.

Jacob Heilbrunn Gabbard, who was clear and confident in his opening declaration, made Brouhaha transformed about her close ties into a secret sect in Hawaii to an opportunity to defend Hinduism and portray himself as an unhappy victim of religious intolerance. Talk about playing the DEI card.

WJ Hennigan Gabbard received glowing endorsements at the beginning of the hearing from Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, and former Senator Richard Burr, who praised Gabbard’s military and public service. As a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Hans Rosning can go a long way in providing coverage to cautious Republicans.

Nicholas Kristof When asked who she is accusing of the Ukraine war, Gabbard said mute: “Putin started the war in Ukraine.” After her past Blather About Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” and in a hearing full of her evasions, it was a reassuring recognition of a reality that should be obvious to everyone.

Curt Mills Gabbard, who has a reputation as an outsider, looked like an experienced political professional right from the start. Her opening line was a home run: She said she was motivated to be director of national intelligence because of the intelligence errors that led to the war in Iraq.

Kori Schake Senator Martin Heinrich’s efforts to establish the timeline, financing and content of her conversations during her journey to Syria in 2017. She fought well for her corner – answered honestly, defended her journey as a learning and listening expedition and expressed her surprise that no one From the intelligence community or the state department tried to debrief her after the trip.

Megan K. Stack I caught myself the root of Gabbard when she condemned the “creepy, illegal and constitutional programs” that were postponed in the 2013 leakage from Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who publicly revealed classified intelligence collection programs. It felt like a badly necessary show of consistency from Gabbard, which has given conflicting and rapidly revised statements about surveillance, Ukraine, Syria and more.

Farah Stockman Gabbard shone when she described the Iraq war as the most expensive abuse of intelligence in our lifetime: “A total fabrication or complete failure of intelligence.” As a person who served in Iraq, she speaks to millions when she rejects “regime change war.”

Goldberg It is difficult to separate the mixture of the fact and conspiratorial insinuations in her opening declaration without throwing down rabbit holes. For example, she suggested that she came under TSA control to criticize Kamala Harris, as it was actually because of Gabbard’s meeting with someone on an FBI Terrorist Guard list.

Heilbrunn There were many shameful moments of her testimony, but a particularly mad example came when she refused to explain her laundering of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If she was not aware of the Kremlin’s regurgitation of her piffle about the war, as she said, how can she then plausibly lead American intelligence efforts?

Hennigan Gabbard was grilled about her support for Snowden. She was asked many times if she considered him a traitor – a statement broadly shared by Democrats and Republicans. Gabbard refused to answer every time.

Kristof All questions about her story of terrible judgment are back. Pressure on the many bisexual statements she made over the years, Stone Gabbard Stonewalled. She avoided questions about her enthusiasm for Snowden and about surveillance. Worse is that she seemed to doubt that the overturn of the Syrian regime was positive.

Møller Senators Michael Bennet and James Lankford and others broke with obsessive questions about Snowden – a man who committed a crime over a decade ago, but one who exposed abuse from our government. Their focus revealed the kind of myopia that has now twice motivated Americans to vault Trump to power.

Schake Worst was her veil, every time she was asked – over 10 times, by my count – whether Snowden was a traitor and whether she still supports a bill she introduced in 2020 that called on the US government to bring charges against Mr. Snowden. “Everything she could do to defend herself was recognized that he broke the law.

Stack As successive legislators, without success, tried to Browbeat Gabbard to call Snowden a traitor, the whole hearing took the ugly tone in a fighting session. Legislators encountered as uncomfortable with the intention of forcing her to parrot the right language – a test of observance rather than an exploration of her ideas.

Stockman She sounded naive when she said she “was not aware of any accusations” against the two brothers who arranged the 2017 tour she went to Syria and Lebanon, “until after the trip took place.” The media has claimed that the brothers have ties to a Syrian political party friendly with Hezbollah.

Goldberg There has been plenty of reporting that some Republicans in the committee are not sold at Gabbard and you could see it in their questions. “I want to make sure that Russia in no way gets a passport in either your mind or your heart,” said Jerry Moran, Republican in Kansas.

Heilbrunn Min, min. The most narrative event was not one of Gabbard’s outland racks, but something else: Senator Tom Cotton’s readiness to carry water to her grim record and qualifications. If Joe Biden had been the one nominated Gabbard, Cotton, a disproportionate foreign policy Hawk, would have devised her.

Hennigan Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had struggled beyond its original mandate: to improve coordination between federal agencies. Gabbard undertook to work with Cotton and the Senate Intelligence Committee to empty the office and eliminate “redundancy and bloating” in his 2,000 employee’s workforce.

Kristof While Gabbard did not solve any of the lingering questions about her previous sympathy for Russia, the Syrian regime and Snowden, she was disciplined and measured in a way that could reassure Republicans. She did not enter landmines. Still, the idea of ​​her responsible for the president’s daily brief is a nightmare.

Møller The continued development of cotton is something to look at. He has an Ultrahawkian pedigree, but he randomly used the terms “Mission Creep” and “Empire Building” during the consultation. The Vibe shift in Washington looks real.

Schake Three things stand out: the severity that the senators in the committee approached the procedure; Gabbard, who commits to stricter laws on data protection for US companies as well as Tiktok; And her says, “I don’t think for a moment that President Trump would ask me to perform an illegal order.”

Stack She is often described as an antiwar figure, but that’s not quite right. Gabbard is a military officer who sprays poison over Islam. “I just hate Al Qaeda,” she said, with Meghan McCain sitting approved behind her. That’s true: Gabbard generally approves war against Islamic extremists, but criticizes war against anyone who suppresses Islamists (Hosni Mubarak, Bashar al-Assad, Muammar El-Qaddafi). This is her unifying theory.

Stockman She is a strange choice to lead the intelligence community to be sure as she is so out of step with the people she should lead. But what short memories people have! So many Democrats have shone against the guaranteed wiretaps and hailed Snowden as a hero. Now, disqualify these positions?

Michelle Goldberg and Nicholas Kristof are Times Opinion SPalists.

Jacob Heilbrunn is the editor of National Interest, a non-resident senior mate at Atlantic Council and the author, most recently “America Last: The Right’s Century Long Romance with foreign dictators.”

WJ Hennigan writes about national security issues for meaning from Washington. He has reported from more than two dozen countries covering war, arms trade and the lives of American officials.

Curt Mills is CEO of the American Conservatives.

Kori Schake worked for the National Security Council and in the state department under George W. Bush administration. She is director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Megan K. Stack is a contributing opinion author. She has been a correspondent in China, Russia, Egypt, Israel and Afghanistan and covered the US -Mexico border.

Farah Stockman is a member of the editorial board.

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