Top Democrat Hammers Tulsi Gabbard for Supporting Edward Snowden: He ‘Divulged Secrets and Ran Off to Russia’
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) hammered President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, during his opening statement on Thursday at her Senate confirmation hearing.
Warner, the vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, took aim at Gabbard’s past praise for Edward Snowden – the former NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents and defected to Russia.
“Not only do you think that someone who divulged secrets and then ran off to Russia should be celebrated as brave. But you don’t seem to understand the DNI’s role in determining whistleblower determinations,” Warner said of Gabbard, adding:
In fact, the DNI has a significant role in transmitting lawful whistleblower complaints to this committee. They’re all laid out right here in the statute. And I would have serious concerns about confirming someone who cannot distinguish between complaints that are made lawfully and those that are made not in the statute.
It says the job of the DNI is to protect intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. That’s a quote. I guess I’m asking, what message would it send to have a DNI who would celebrate the work of a member of the IC or a contractor that went on their own mission to decide what’s appropriate to leak? I don’t understand it.
Warner concluded his statement noting, “I continue to have significant concerns about your judgment and your qualifications to meet the standard set by the law.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board took a similar approach on Wednesday in criticizing Gabbard, writing:
In 2020 she introduced a House resolution, alongside then Rep. Matt Gaetz, calling for the feds to drop charges against Edward Snowden.
“The National Security Agency’s bulk collection telephone records program was illegal and unconstitutional,” the resolution argued. “Edward Snowden’s disclosure of this program to journalists was in the public interest.” Oh, his disclosure of one NSA program to some trusted journalists? Is that all Ms. Gabbard believes Mr. Snowden did?
The Journal added, “The reality is that Mr. Snowden betrayed his oath by pilfering a massive cache of U.S. secrets, fleeing to Russia, and subsequently taking citizenship there.” The Murdoch-owned paper concluded that her past support for Snowden does not bring her “patriotism” into question but her “judgement,” adding “what message it would send friends and foes to confirm a director of national intelligence who doesn’t really seem to believe in protecting national intelligence.”
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.
