VOA News | Thursday, January 30, 2025
Gabbard faces criticism over Russia, Snowden in confirmation hearing for top US intel post

Former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence, faced harsh criticism of her past defense of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and comments seen as supportive of Russia at a confirmation hearing on Thursday. Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed doubts about the choice of Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democrat and combat veteran without deep intelligence experience, to serve as the nation’s top spy overseeing all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. Senators questioned Gabbard about views seen as echoing Russia’s justification of its war against Ukraine, criticism of U.S. involvement in Syria and 2017 meeting with Moscow-backed former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “You blamed NATO for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. You rejected the conclusion that Assad used chemical weapons in Syria,” said Senator Mark Warner, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman. During the hearing, Gabbard said that Russian President Vladimir Putin started the war in Ukraine, although she did not respond to a question about whether she viewed Russia as a threat to the U.S. While in the House of Representatives, Gabbard introduced legislation that would have dropped charges against Snowden, a former government contractor who leaked thousands of National Security Agency documents and then fled to Russia. Gabbard repeatedly declined to answer when…Read more