Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. intelligence community, repeatedly refused to call NSA leaker Edward Snowden a traitor during her confirmation hearing on Thursday, a fact some Republicans are privately admitting could threaten her chances of advancing out of committee.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle gave the former Democratic congresswoman turned GOP Trump cabinet nominee more than a half-dozen chances to withdraw her past support of Snowden during her confirmation hearing, but she didn’t take them.
Instead, Gabbard continued to repeat a scripted response that Snowden “broke the law,” but repeatedly declined to call him a traitor. She also mentioned that he exposed “egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government.”
Gabbard’s response to the Snowden questions during the portion of the hearing that was open to the public was a “surprise” to some like Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who was one of the senators who posed the question to the nominee during the hearing.
“I was surprised, yeah, because that doesn’t seem like a hard question,” Lankford said, speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “It wasn’t intended to be a trick question.”
Lankford, who has already publicly said he will support Gabbard, did not indicate whether her responses to the questions could sway his vote or those GOP senators who could be on the fence like Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Todd Young (R-IN).
“I just don’t know where they are on it, and I think for the Intel Committee, the public hearing is important, obviously, but our private conversations are probably more,” Lankford said before hearing into the closed portion of the hearing, where members of the panel can discuss classified information.
The Oklahoma Senator said he was also surprised at how much Snowden appeared to come up during the hearing.
“I’m sure [Snowden] is super excited that he’s a topic of conversation, again as Todd Young pointed out, apparently, he’s tracking the whole thing online and loves being the center of attention again,” Lankford said. “But, he was certainly not a whistleblower. He was certainly someone who betrayed the United States and put American soldiers at risk all around the world based on his actions and activities.”
Gabbard’s past support had already been a potential liability for her nomination. When she served in the House of Representatives, she introduced a resolution with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) that called for all charges to be dropped against Snowden, and she urged Trump at the end of his first term to pardon Snowden and others who “exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state.”
She also posted support for Snowden on social media as recently as 2020, when she said “brave whistleblowers exposing lies & illegal actions in our government must be protected and that Snowden “should be pardoned.”
Some Republicans fear her refusal to call Snowden a traitor or directly say that his actions harmed national security could have further jeopardized her nomination.
“Unless she says something vastly different inside the closed session, that non-answer could have just cost her the nomination,” said a GOP Senate aide speaking on the condition of anonymity in an effort to speak candidly about the situation.
Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are emerging as the two critical swing votes on the panel. Young, for his part, appeared to be dissatisfied with Gabbard’s answers on Snowden during his questioning in the committee hearing.
“I think it would befit you and be helpful to the way you were perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge… that he harmed national security by breaking the law,” he said to her.
When reporters asked if Young was satisfied with Gabbard’s answers on Snowden during the hearings, he declined to comment.
Collins, who also questioned Gabbard on Snowden at the beginning of the hearing, said she’s still evaluating her nomination to become Director of National Intelligence.
“There’s a lot more of the hearing to go,” Collins said to reporters, exiting Gabbard’s hearing to make an appearance in Robert F. Kennedy’s hearing before the Senate HELP committee.
Collins indicated it’s “too early to tell” if Gabbard has enough committee votes to make it to a full Senate floor vote.
Gabbard’s nomination could come down to one Republican vote. The committee is split 9-8 in favor of Republicans — meaning if all panel Democrats oppose Gabbard, as is expected, a single GOP flip could prevent her nomination from reaching the floor.
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There have been discussions about finding alternative ways to bring Gabbard’s nomination to the floor if she’s unable to advance out of the committee, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) appeared to pour cold water on that option earlier this week.
