After being pressed by senators from both parties to call Edward Snowden a traitor, Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly refused during her confirmation hearing on Thursday morning. Why it matters: Gabbard's past comments and legislation defending Snowden have threatened her confirmation to be President Trump's director of national intelligence.
Gabbard is transferring her business to her spouse in a move experts said could create conflict of interest concerns.
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, rejected claims by Senate Democrats on Thursday that the president would ask her to violate the law.
Trump’s nominee for director of intelligence said, under oath, that she was not aware “until today” that a prominent cleric she met in Syria threatened to unleash suicide bombers in the United States.
Could a confirmation hearing finally matter? The answers provided by Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday may make it the most consequential hearing for an executive branch nomination in years.
President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees have flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings.
Senate Republicans and their allies believe former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ’s chances of being confirmed as director of national intelligence will hinge on her performance during her confirmation hearing next week, with several mentioning she has an “uphill battle” in her chances of being confirmed.
Kennedy faces skepticism from a key GOP senator: After he repeatedly challenged Kennedy’s views on vaccines, Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held Thursday’s hearing, said he was “struggling” with Kennedy’s nomination.
Kash Patel and John Ratcliffe both rebut her views on Section 702.
Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence had a particularly controversial trip to the Middle East that members of Hezbollah discussed.
Gabbard was questioned by Republicans and Democrats alike on her views of Snowden and whether she believes he was a traitor. She declined to say she believed he was a traitor, repeating that she felt he had broken the law and reiterating a point that she has made in the past, that he exposed practices that have resulted in the reform of 702.