Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to become intelligence chief, fought back against what she called “smears,” declaring she is nobody’s “puppet” at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
She told senators her opponents accuse her “of being Trump’s puppet, Putin’s puppet, Assad’s puppet, a guru’s puppet, Modi’s puppet, not recognizing the absurdity of simultaneously being the puppet of five different puppet masters.”
The former Hawaii congresswoman referenced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant illegally used to spy on the Trump campaign and the 51 intelligence community officials who vowed that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal had the hallmarks of Russian intelligence, and she claimed she was put on a secret domestic terrorist watch list after criticizing former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The American people elected Donald Trump as their president, not once, but twice, and yet, the FBI and intelligence agencies were politicized by his opponents to undermine his presidency and falsely portray him as a puppet of Putin,” she added.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, began the hearing by mentioning the immense media attention that Gabbard’s nomination to be the director of national intelligence has captured.
“It’s fair to say that Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee, but I want to stress that Ms. Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration, and professionalism that we extended through every nominee, no more, no less, no better, no worse,” Cotton said in his opening statement.
The Arkansas senator acknowledged Gabbard has some “unconventional views,” mentioning her critiques of former President Barack Obama’s foreign policy decisions but pointing out similarities to his own views.
“No doubt she has some unconventional views, like her criticism of Barack Obama’s regime change interventions in Egypt and Libya. But guess what? I opposed the disastrous interventions in Egypt and Libya as well,” Cotton said during his opening statement.
The highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), also raised Gabbard’s “unconventional” viewpoints and said he had “significant concerns about [her] judgment.”
“For example, you blamed NATO for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. You rejected the conclusion that Assad used chemical weapons in Syria despite it being the unanimous assessment of the Trump administration DOD, State Department, and IC, as well as the assessment of our European allies,” Warner said. “Instead, you blamed the United States for supporting terrorist groups in Syria.”
The Virginia Democrat immediately pointed to her previous support for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle view as having damaged U.S. national security.
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“You have been publicly outspoken in your praise and defense of Edward Snowden — someone who betrayed the trust and jeopardized the security of our nation,” Warner said. “Furthermore, when given the opportunity to clarify your position in the committee’s pre-hearing questions, you declined … and instead you expressed that, and I quote, ‘The DNI … has no role in determining whether or not Edward Snowden is a lawful whistleblower.’”
The director of national intelligence leads 18 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community.
