LOS ANGELES.–Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Ha.), 43, spent her time in the hot seat at her Senate confirmation hearing in the Intelligence Committee, drawing groans from senators on both sides of the aisle. While Gabbard didn’t have prayers with Democrat senators, she had a good shot with GOP senators who want to give Trump what he wants for his Cabinet. But Gabbard, a feisty, independently minded type, showed why she’s alienated Democrat and GOP war hawks. Whether admitted to or not, Gabbard, a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserves, is a peacemaker like 78-year-old President Donald Trump. Gabbard and Trump bonded in his first term when Trump saw the destructive consequences of former President Barack Obama’s multibillion dollar proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Gabbard defied convention and met with al-Assad in Damascus on a peace mission.
While Trump ran for president in 2016, over 500,000 Syrians had been killed in a five year long civil war, driving 15 million Syrians into neighboring countries and into Europe. Obama’s proxy war to topple al-Assad flooded Turkey and Europe with Syrian refugees, some terrorists committing more violent acts in Europe. By the time the 2016 election rolled around, Trump backed Nigel Farage’s Brexit movement, to stop Syrian refugees from flooding the U.K., creating unwanted death and chaos. Gabbard, while a U.S. Congresswoman from Haiwaii, didn’t hesitate to express her opposition to Obama’s proxy war. A few years later in 2022, Gabbard opposed Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin. Gabbard thought the Ukraine War harmed U.S. foreign policy and national security by pitting the U.S. and Russia against each other as mortal enemies.
Gabbard found herself in unpopular territory trying to defend National Security Agency [NSA] leaker Edward Snowden who, in 2013, stole millions of digital files from Booz Allen Hamiliton and fled the country to Hong Kong, ending up in Russia. Snowden claimed he was a legitimate whistleblower but was viewed by Democrats and Republicans as a dangerous traitor. Former President Barack Obama said if Snowden returned to the U.S. to face trial, he would be treated fairly. Snowden sought a pardon from Obama but never go one, instead asking and receiving asylum in Russia. Gabbard crafted legislation before leaving Congress in 2021to afford Snowden with clemency for acting as a legitimate whistleblower. Few in the intel community agreed with Gabbard, seeing Snowden as a traitor who compromised the intel collection for the foreseeable future.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), 45, a big supporter of President Donald Trump, said he thought Gabbard’s nomination was in trouble, with his GOP colleagues having problems with her answers on Snowden. Gabbard stubbornly refused to call Snowden a traitor when GOP senators wanted to hear her views. Snowden has been long gone but the intel community recalls the humiliation, with Snowden fleeing the long-arm of American justice, making it to Hong Kong, then off to Moscow. “Her sin is that she challenges the surveillance sate,” Hawley said about Gabbard. “She told the truth about the government spying on Americans and about the abuses of FISA. She went out there and was honest about it, and for that, she is getting absolutely roasted and persecuted,” Hawley said. Well, no one told Gabbard to self-destruct at her confirmation hearing.
Gabbard had no business using a confirmation hearing to advance her controversial ideas about a U.S. surveillance state. Whether she would like that to stop or not, her confirmation was the last place to litigate her views on Snowden or the surveillance state. Gabbard could have told senators she condemns the theft and dissemination of classified government files, whether for a noble purpose or not. Gabbard could have easily reassured senators that she condemns the unlawful theft of classified data and thinks anyone doing is a traitor. She refused to call Snowden a traitor most likely costing her job as Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard should have followed nominee for FBI Director Kash Patel who said nothing controversial during his hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Unlike Gabbard, Patel is likely to get trough on a party-line vote.
Gabbard, for all her bravado on U.S. foreign policy, obviously didn’t want the Director of National Intelligence job. Common sense should have told her to refrain from her personal opinions about controversial topics like Edward Snowden. No one on the Senate Intelligence Committee wanted to re-litigate Snowden’s crimes, excusing them as whistleblowing. Anyone working in the intel community knows it’s a tightly knit group of analysts who want clarity from a nominee about their position on theft of government classified files. “If you’re on the Intelligence Committee, you’re a Republican, and you got someone in front of you who can’t denounce Snowden as being a traitor to the United States and who has actively campaigned against 702 . . For the questions by Republicans, it’s clear that they’re afraid she can’t be trusted,” Hawley said, spelling doom for Gabbard.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.