Ms. Gabbard, President Trump’s nominee to be the director of national intelligence, came to the hearing prepared to distance herself from Mr. Snowden. But whether the question was presented politely or pointedly, the answer from Ms. Gabbard was the same: Mr. Snowden broke the law and she would ensure that future intelligence officers knew how to properly make a whistle-blower complaint.
The nominee for director of national intelligence, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, faced intense scrutiny for her past defenses of Syria’s former leader, President Assad, and the infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden, during a bipartisan grilling from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as director of national intelligence, previously called for a pardon of Snowden, who leaked thousands of pages of classified government documents in 2013.
