President Donald Trump’s choose for director of nationwide intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, confronted an hourslong listening to earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, fielding a bevy of questions associated to her {qualifications} and former remarks associated to nationwide safety.
Gabbard appeared earlier than the intelligence committee on Thursday morning the place she labored to rally assist from lawmakers forward of Senate committee and ground votes.
Fox Information Digital reported forward of the listening to that Gabbard didn’t have a majority of its committee members’ votes, that are crucial to maneuver to the total Senate, in line with a senior Intel Committee aide. Gabbard doubtless will want each Republican vote to maneuver previous the committee, assuming Democrats vote in opposition to her.
A spokesperson for Gabbard disregarded issues that Gabbard wouldn’t have sufficient committee votes in a press release to Fox Information Digital forward of the listening to.
“Anonymous sources are going to continue to lie and smear to try and take down the President’s nominees and subvert the will of the American people and the media is playing a role in publishing these lies,” the spokesperson stated. “That doesn’t change the fact that Lt. Col. Gabbard is immensely qualified for this role and we look forward to her hearing.”
Fox Information Digital compiled the highest 5 moments, exchanges and highlights from the listening to, which ended forward of 1 p.m. on Thursday earlier than it moved to a closed session later within the afternoon.
Gabbard rails she’s nobody’s ‘puppet’ in opening remarks
Gabbard kicked off her Thursday listening to by preemptively combating “lies and smears” she anticipated to listen to from some Senate lawmakers, together with that she concurrently operates as a “puppet” for Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.
“Before I close, I want to warn the American people who are watching at home: You may hear lies and smears in this hearing that will challenge my loyalty to and my love for our country,” Gabbard stated.
“Those who oppose my nomination imply that I am loyal to something or someone other than God, my own conscience and the Constitution of the United States,” she continued. “Accusing me 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.”
‘LIES AND SMEARS’: TULSI GABBARD RAILS AGAINST DEM NARRATIVE SHE’S TRUMP’S AND PUTIN’S ‘PUPPET’
“The same tactic was used against President Trump and failed,” she stated of the accusations in opposition to her.
Gabbard’s critics have slammed her since Trump’s election win and her nomination, together with claiming she lacks the {qualifications} for the position, questioning her judgment over her 2017 assembly with then-Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and labeling her a “likely a Russian asset,” as Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed in November 2024.
“The American people elected President Trump with a decisive victory and mandate for change,” Gabbard stated. “The fact is, what truly unsettles my political opponents is I refuse to be their puppet. I have no love for Assad or Gadhafi or any dictator. I just hate al-Qaeda. I hate that we have leaders who cozy up to Islamist extremists, minimizing them to so-called rebels.”
All eyes on Snowden: Was he ‘a traitor’?
Gabbard was questioned on her views of Nationwide Safety Company whistleblower Edward Snowden repeatedly all through the listening to, together with by rating member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in addition to Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Susan Collins, R-Maine, James Lankford, R-Okla., and others.
“Was Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” Bennet requested Gabbard.
“He broke the law,” Gabbard responded.
“Was Edward Snowden a traitor?” Lankford additionally requested.
TOP SENATE INTELLIGENCE DEM GRILLS GABBARD IF EDWARD SNOWDEN IS ‘BRAVE’: ‘VERY TROUBLING’
“Senator, my heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nation’s security,” she responded. “I have shown throughout my almost 22 years of service in the military, as well as my time in Congress, how seriously I take the privilege of having access to classified information and our nation’s secrets. And that’s why I’m committed, if confirmed as director of national intelligence, to join you in making sure that there is no future Snowden-type leak.”
Gabbard beforehand has made favorable remarks associated to Snowden throughout the years, together with in 2019 on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and calling on Trump in 2020 to pardon “brave whistleblowers exposing lies and illegal actions in our government,” equivalent to Snowden.
“If it wasn’t for Snowden, the American people would never have learned the NSA was collecting phone records and spying on Americans,” she stated on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in 2019.
Snowden was working as an data know-how contractor for the Nationwide Safety Company in 2013 when he traveled to Hong Kong to fulfill with three journalists and transferred hundreds of pages of categorised paperwork concerning the U.S. authorities’s surveillance of its residents to them. He quickly traveled to Russia and deliberate to move to Ecuador, however federal authorities canceled his passport and indicted him for espionage.
Snowden in the end remained in Russia and have become a naturalized citizen in 2022.
“Until you are nominated by the president to be the DNI, you consistently praised the actions of Edward Snowden, someone, I believe, jeopardized the security of our nation and then, to flaunt that, fled to Russia,” Warner stated to Gabbard on Thursday morning.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., helped conduct the Senate Choose Intelligence Committee affirmation listening to for Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of nationwide intelligence, on Jan. 30, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name through Getty Pictures)
“You even called Edward Snowden, and I quote here, ‘a brave whistleblower,’” he stated. “Every member of this committee supports the rights of legal whistleblowers. But Edward Snowden isn’t a whistleblower, and in this case, I’m a lot closer to the chairman’s words where he said Snowden is, quote, ‘an egotistical serial liar and traitor’ who, quote, ‘deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life.’ Ms. Gabbard, a simple yes or no question: Do you still think Edward Snowden is brave?”
Gabbard pushed again that Snowden “broke the law” and doesn’t agree along with his leak of intelligence.
“Mr. Vice Chairman, Edward Snowden broke the law,” she stated. “I do not agree with or support with all of the information and intelligence that he released nor the way in which he did it. There would have been opportunities for him to come to you on this committee or seek out the IG to release that information. The fact is, he also, even as he broke the law, released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government.”
Gabbard says 9/11 doubtless may have been prevented
Gabbard argued that the assault on 9/11 doubtless may have been prevented if authorities “stovepiping” had not suppressed intelligence communications from reaching different officers.
Stovepiping is known as data being delivered via an remoted channel of communication to authorities higher-ups with out broadening the distribution of the data.
“There’s a general consensus that there was a massive intelligence failure,” Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., stated throughout Gabbard’s listening to concerning 9/11. “This caught us all by surprise, even though the World Trade Center had been attacked earlier. Do you think stovepipeing was a problem in our intelligence failure?”
“There’s no question about it, senator,” Gabbard stated earlier than Wicker requested her to elaborate.
GABBARD SAYS 9/11 LIKELY COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED IF NOT FOR INTELLIGENCE ‘STOVEPIPING’
“Senator, when we looked back at the post-9/11 reporting and the post-assessments that were made, it was very clear that there was stovepiping of information and intelligence that occurred at many levels, at the highest but also at the lowest levels,” she stated.
“Information that was collected by the FBI, information that was collected by the CIA was not being shared,” she stated. “It was almost ships passing in the night, where if there was an integration of those intelligence elements and information being shared, it is highly likely that that horrific attack could have been prevented.”
Wicker pressed if the intelligence group may face one other “stovepipe” challenge sooner or later if plans to trim the director of nationwide intelligence workplace of redundant jobs and improve effectivity, as Gabbard has stated she is going to do, is put in force.
TENSION BUILDS AROUND TULSI GABBARD’S CONFIRMATION WITH KEY GOP SENATORS UNDECIDED
“The problem that we had in 2001, senator, remains at the forefront of my mind,” she responded. “And as you said, this is exactly why the ODNI was created. Given my limited vantage point not being in this seat, I am concerned that there are still problems with stovepiping that need to be addressed. And in some cases, my concern would be that unnecessary bureaucratic layers may be contributing to that problem.”
Gabbard sheds gentle on Assad assembly
Critics and Democrat lawmakers have slammed Gabbard for a 2017 assembly with then-Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, claiming it’s proof she could be a “danger to the American people” if confirmed.
Gabbard met with Assad in 2017, years earlier than his authorities was overthrown in 2024, and publicly revealed the assembly after she returned from Syria. Gabbard was a member of the U.S. Home representing Hawaii on the time of the assembly.
“There is not a great deal in the public record about what you and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad discussed for so long in January of 2017,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., stated to Gabbard on Thursday. “And I think there’s a great deal of interest from the American people about what was discussed in that meeting. So what did you talk about? And did you press Assad on things like his use of chemical weapons, systematic torture and the killing of so many Syrians?”
“Yes, Senator. I, upon returning from this trip, I met with people like then-Leader Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, talked to them and answered their questions about the trip,” Gabbard responded.
Former Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi had met with Assad in 2007, regardless of then-President George W. Bush’s criticism of the go to.
Gabbard remarked that she was shocked by the dearth of curiosity on the time from the intelligence group concerning her personal assembly.
“I was surprised that there was no one from the intelligence community or the State Department who reached out or showed any interest whatsoever in my takeaways from that trip,” Gabbard stated. “I would have been very happy to have a conversation and give them a backbrief. I went with former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who had been there many times before and who had met with Assad before. A number of topics were covered and discussed. And to directly answer your question, yes. I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions. The use of chemical weapons and the brutal tactics that were being used against his own people.”
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ SPARKS BACKLASH FOR CLAIMING TULSI GABBARD IS A RUSSIAN ASSET
“Were you able to extract any concessions from President Assad?” Heinrich requested Gabbard.
“No, and I didn’t expect to, but I felt these issues were important to address,” she stated.
Heinrich continued to press whether or not now Gabbard considers “this trip as good judgment?”
“Yes, Senator. And I believe that leaders, whether you be in Congress or the president of the United States, can benefit greatly by going and engaging boots on the ground, learning and listening and meeting directly with people, whether they be adversaries or friends,” Gabbard stated.
Gabbard vows to chop workplace’s ‘redundancies’
Tulsi Gabbard is going through criticism from senators over her lack of intelligence expertise and her opinions on home surveillance powers. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)
Gabbard vowed that she would minimize redundancies from the workplace of the director of nationwide intelligence in an effort to streamline effectivity and stop intelligence failures that may result in devastation and tragedy.
“I’ll work to assess and address efficiencies, redundancies and effectiveness across ODNI to ensure focus of personnel and resources is on our core mission of national security,” she stated as a part of her opening remarks on Thursday. “In my meetings that I’ve had with many of you, you expressed bipartisan frustration about recent intelligence failures as well as the lack of responsiveness to your requests for information, whether it’s the surprise Oct. 7th Hamas terrorist attack to the sudden takeover of Syria by Islamist extremists, failures to identify the source of COVID, anomalous health incidents, UAPs, drones and more. If confirmed, I look forward to working with you to address these issues.”
The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., requested Gabbard to elaborate on her mission of slicing authorities fats from the workplace, together with asking her if she would restore it to “its original size, scope and function.”
“Over the years, however, the ODNI has strayed from this vision to an organization that now publicly boasts nearly 2,000 people, more than half of whom are not detailed from an intelligence agency but rather are career ODNI bureaucrats,” Cotton stated. “They’ve even developed centers that are producing their own analysis. Will you commit today to working with this committee, to restoring the ODNI to its original size, scope and function?”
“Yes, Senator,” Gabbard responded. “I look forward to working with you and the committee as I, if confirmed, assess the current status of who is working in the ODNI and the function that they fulfill to make sure of its effectiveness and elimination of redundancies and bloating.”
Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dances as he leaves the stage after talking alongside former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard throughout a city corridor assembly in La Crosse, Wis., in August 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Gabbard has served as a lieutenant colonel within the Military Reserves since 2021 after beforehand serving within the Hawaii Military Nationwide Guard for about 17 years. She was elected to the U.S. Home representing Hawaii throughout the 2012 election cycle, serving as a Democrat till 2021. She didn’t search re-election to that workplace after throwing her hat within the 2020 White Home race.
TULSI GABBARD SAYS TRUMP ‘LISTENS’ AND ‘RECOGNIZES’ CHALLENGES AMERICANS FACE
Gabbard left the Democratic Celebration in 2022, registering as an unbiased, earlier than turning into a member of the Republican Celebration in 2024 and providing her full endorsement of Trump in his presidential marketing campaign.
Gabbard has been outspoken in opposition to creating new wars, declaring in her speech in October 2024 throughout Trump’s Madison Sq. Backyard rally {that a} vote for Harris was a vote for “war.”
“I’ve served now for over 21 years,” she stated. “I’ve deployed to different war zones three times over that period, and I’ve seen the cost of war for my brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price. I carry their memories and their sacrifice in my heart every day. So, this choice that we have before us as Americans is critical. It’s important to us. It’s important to those of us who serve, who have volunteered to put our lives on the line for the safety, security and freedom of our country and our people.”
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“A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for Dick Cheney,” she stated on the time. “And it’s a vote for war, more war, likely World War III and nuclear war. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a man who wants to end wars, not start them, and who has demonstrated already that he has the courage and strength to stand up and fight for peace.”
Fox Information Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
