Ahead of what could be the most contentious Senate confirmation fight for any of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, two GOP senators spoke up Sunday in support of Tulsi Gabbard, his selection for director of national intelligence.
“She served our country honorably in the military,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) told host Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “She’s been a member of Congress, and I think she strikes a really important balance for a key position of civil liberties, protecting civil liberties of United States citizens, and also our national security. So I still think she’s going to get confirmed.”
Since her nomination was announced back in November, the former Democratic House representative from Hawaii has faced questions for her ties to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and statements sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
But concerns for her path to confirmation intensified last week after a rocky hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. And it was Gabbard’s longtime support of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden — now living in exile in Russia — that united Democrats and Republicans in trepidation.
In 2020, she and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) brought forth a House resolution compelling the federal government to drop all charges against Snowden. That was not adopted.
And at the hearing, Gabbard continually refused to call Snowden a traitor, despite numerous yes-no questions from Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).
“I mean, the definition of a traitor’s pretty simple,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), also a member of the Intelligence Committee, told Welker on Sunday. “I mean, whether or not somebody betrayed our country, and in the case of Edward Snowden we know he did. He released a lot of classified information, top secret information, over a million documents, and he gave a lot of those to Russia, he may have given some to China.”
Speaking with Welker, Schmitt himself deflected when asked if he thought Snowden was a traitor.
“I think people are tired of these games, of this sort of ‘gotcha’ stuff,” Schmitt said. “Look, if he’s, if he’s been indicted, he comes back to the States, he’s going to have a trial. But this idea we tried to disqualify using these terms is ridiculous.”
Also expressing support for Gabbard on Sunday was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The longtime Trump ally said he was waiting for her comments on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“I actually served in a reserve unit with Tulsi,” Graham told host Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’ve always liked her. I think a lot of her criticism against her has been really mean and off-base, but I’ll be a yes now. She’s shown her understanding of how vital 702 is.”
None of the Republican Senators considered most likely to vote no on Gabbard — Todd Young (Ind.), Susan Collins (Maine), Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and John Curtis (Utah) — appeared on the Sunday show circuit this morning. If every Democrat were to vote against her, Gabbard can survive just three GOP defections to get confirmed.