Former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, is on record calling for the U.S. government to “drop all charges” against Edward Snowden, wanting to repeal key intelligence-gathering tools and sometimes embracing Russian talking points regarding the wars in Syria and Ukraine.
That’s even before examining Gabbard’s foreign policy views, which are far outside the mainstream of American political discourse — and even further away from the center of gravity in the Senate Republican Conference.
It’s presenting a unique challenge for Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee. That panel — which is responsible for processing Gabbard’s nomination — is stacked with hawks on both sides of the dais.
Trump’s choice of Gabbard is in keeping with his desire to completely overhaul the federal bureaucracy. But GOP senators are already indicating they’ll be interested in probing Gabbard’s controversial and often outright hostile posture toward the very intelligence apparatus she’d run if confirmed.
The Snowden praise is particularly troubling to lawmakers, the vast majority of whom believe the NSA leaker caused irreparable damage to U.S. national security. Snowden is now a Russian citizen.
This is news: Republican senators have privately discussed their interest in viewing Gabbard’s FBI file, according to three sources familiar with the conversations. This is done for each Cabinet nominee, but the implication is that the documents could reveal previously unknown information about Gabbard, including possible foreign contacts.
For now, Republicans are treating Gabbard like every other Cabinet nominee, starting off with enormous deference to Trump and what they see as his mandate to govern. That means refraining from public criticisms of Trump’s nominees.
Yet key senators are making clear that their deference may not last forever. Here’s Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), an Intelligence Committee member:
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another Intelligence Committee member, said he has “no doubt that she’s a patriot,” but he wants to question Gabbard on her posture toward Russia. Interestingly, Cornyn gave a floor speech this week praising Trump’s national security nominees by name, but he didn’t mention Gabbard.
When asked about Gabbard’s FISA opposition, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who also sits on the Intelligence panel, called it “an essential tool” for national security but noted that “people’s views can change over the years as they learn more.”
Collins added that Gabbard is “a nominee that illustrates the importance of a full background check, a public hearing, and the constitutional role of the Senate.”
Trump team’s outlook: Gabbard will begin her formal meetings with senators after Thanksgiving, and has already held informal calls. Gabbard has uniquely close relationships with senators in both parties. At least three sitting GOP senators were elected to the House in the same class as Gabbard in 2012.
Alexa Henning, a Trump transition spokesperson, said in a statement that Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, “will protect our national security and defend against any effort to use the work of our intelligence agencies as weapons against Americans.”
The transition team is pointing to statements like that of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a noted hawk, to push back against Gabbard’s critics. Graham called Gabbard “extremely bright and capable” while acknowledging their disagreements on foreign policy.
Gabbard’s sherpa — the staffer responsible for shepherding a nominee through the Senate confirmation process — is Kristan Nevins, a longtime GOP hand who worked at the CIA and in the Trump administration as Cabinet Secretary. Nevins currently works at Blackstone.
