WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, is expected to face tough questions from lawmakers Thursday over past comments about Russia and a 2017 visit with Syria’s now-deposed leader.
The back-and-forth during Gabbard’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee could reveal whether she has successfully assuaged concerns from lawmakers of both parties — or whether worries about her experience and background will sink her nomination to oversee 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.
It’s Gabbard’s comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a corrupt autocrat.
She’s been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media.
A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country’s leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.
As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed a key surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.
Gabbard said the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.
She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans’ privacy.
While lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about Gabbard’s nomination, Republicans have increasingly come to support her. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.
Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that while he understands there are questions about Gabbard’s past views, questions about her loyalty to the U.S. are inappropriate.
“She’s passed five different background checks. I reviewed the latest one. It’s clean as a whistle,” the Arkansas Republican said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s fine for people to have policy differences and ask questions about those differences. I hope no one would impugn Ms. Gabbard’s patriotism or her integrity.”