{"id":108756,"date":"2025-01-31T00:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T00:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T00:03:30","slug":"gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabbard stands firm on Snowden, frustrating key senators"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Daniel Heuer\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee peppered director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard with questions about her controversial rhetoric on Russian aggression, Syria\u2019s use of chemical weapons, and government surveillance programs at her high-stakes confirmation hearing on Thursday.<\/p>\n

But it was her statements about Edward Snowden, the prolific leaker of national secrets, that generated the most colorful moments of her three hours of public testimony.<\/p>\n

Senators from both sides offered Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, countless opportunities to withdraw her past support of Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who fled the country with more than 1 million classified records.<\/p>\n

And while she acknowledged on multiple occasions that Snowden broke the law, she stood firm in ways that seemed at times to frustrate even some Republicans on the panel.<\/p>\n

Gabbard has in the past called Snowden a \u201cbrave\u201d whistleblower who uncovered damning civil liberties violations by the intelligence community. As a lawmaker, she introduced legislation supporting a grant of clemency.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, she repeatedly refused to withdraw that characterization of him. And she repeatedly refused to call him a \u201ctraitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where the rubber hits the road,\u201d Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet boomed inside the hearing room. \u201cThis is not a moment for social media, this is not a moment to propagate conspiracy theories \u2026 this is when you need to answer the questions of people whose votes you\u2019re asking for to be confirmed as the chief intelligence officer of this nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? This is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

She declined to say. Instead, Gabbard repeated that she felt his acts were illegal and that she disagreed with his methods.<\/p>\n

“Edward Snowden broke the law,\u201d she said. \u201cI do not agree with or support with all of the information and intelligence that he released, nor the way in which he did it.”<\/p>\n

But, she added, he “released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs.”<\/p>\n

Gabbard faces perhaps the most difficult route to confirmation of all of President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks. She cannot afford to lose any Republican votes in the committee, and at least two members of the panel, Susan Collins and Todd Young, declined to offer their support after the open portion of the hearing concluded.<\/p>\n

While she stood firm on Snowden, Gabbard backtracked on other matters, including her suggestion in 2022 that U.S. and NATO forces had provoked Russia into its war with Ukraine. Asked by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who bore responsibility for Moscow\u2019s aggression, Gabbard was unequivocal: \u201c[Russian President Vladimir] Putin started the war in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that she \u201cshed no tears for the fall of the Assad regime,\u201d referring to Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian dictator who fled Damascus late last year. Gabbard was chastised in 2017 for meeting with Assad in person and later casting doubt on intelligence tying his regime to the use of chemical weapons.<\/p>\n

Several senators also raised Gabbard\u2019s past criticism of government surveillance programs, including the FISA 702 authority, which allows the U.S. government to collect electronic communications of non-Americans located outside the country without a warrant.<\/p>\n

Gabbard expressed support for FISA 702 and explained her vote as a congresswoman against its reauthorization as a reflection of her stance on defending civil liberties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will just note that my actions in legislation in Congress were done to draw attention to the egregious civil liberties violations that were occurring at that time,\u201d Gabbard said.<\/p>\n

But on Snowden, Gabbard refused to back down. Republican Sens. James Lankford and Todd Young presented her with several opportunities to clarify her views on the government leaker. Each time, she equivocated.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid [Snowden] betray the trust of the American people?\u201d Young asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdward Snowden broke the law,\u201d she said, \u201cand he released this information in a way that he should not have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabbard did at one point back off her support of a presidential pardon for Snowden, who now resides in Moscow, where he is not subject to extradition treaties. In an exchange with Collins, she said the DNI does not have a role in advocating for clemency actions.<\/p>\n

“My responsibility would be to ensure the security of our nation’s secrets,\u201d Gabbard said. \u201cAnd would not take actions to advocate for any actions related to Snowden.”<\/p>\n

Collins said after the hearing that she has not made up her mind on whether she will support Gabbard\u2019s nomination and was still reviewing portions of her testimony that she missed while attending a concurrent hearing.<\/p>\n

But when asked if the jury was still out on her support, she said, \u201cthat\u2019s correct, I want to make a careful decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, the committee chairman, said he would move to a vote on Gabbard\u2019s nomination soon. The closed-door portion of the hearing continued on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Heuer\/Bloomberg via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee peppered director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard with questions about her controversial rhetoric on Russian aggression, Syria\u2019s use of chemical weapons, and government surveillance programs at her high-stakes confirmation hearing on Thursday. But it was herRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"yoast_head":"\nGabbard stands firm on Snowden, frustrating key senators - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gabbard stands firm on Snowden, frustrating key senators - FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TALK, DONE RIGHT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FM News Talk 92.7 \/ 1450AM KOBE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsTalkLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T00:03:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2025-01-30\/G_tulsi_013025.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ABC News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newstalklc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newstalklc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ABC News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ABC News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa4e6a14d1fcf4a939c3260298ef5b7\"},\"headline\":\"Gabbard stands firm on Snowden, frustrating key senators\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T00:03:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-31T00:03:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\"},\"wordCount\":846,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"92.7 FM\",\"AM 1450\",\"CONVERVATIVE TALK\",\"DONE RIGHT\",\"KOBE\",\"Las Cruces\",\"LAS CRUCES CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO\",\"las cruces talk radio\",\"New Mexico\",\"NEWS TALK\",\"talk\",\"talk radio\"],\"articleSection\":[\"All News\",\"National News\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/gabbard-stands-firm-on-snowden-frustrating-key-senators\/\",\"name\":\"Gabbard stands firm on Snowden, frustrating key senators - 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