Trump’s pick to lead intelligence faced scrutiny over sect-ties, Snowden, and Al-Assad

Tulsi Gabbard, one of President Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks, faced the questions of Senators from the Intelligence Committee as she hopes to become Director of Intelligence.

During the confirmation hearing, Democrats drilled her with questions about controversial past decisions, and some Republicans showed limited enthusiasm for her nomination.

According to Politico, Ms. Gabbard is widely seen as President Trump’s most vulnerable Cabinet nominee, mainly because she lacks experience in intelligence.

She served two decades in the military, is an Iraq veteran, and was a Democratic Rep. on the House Armed Services Committee. However, she never had any roles in an intelligence agency.

She has also expressed controversial opinions about subjects tightly related to national security and intelligence. The Senators dissected them all.

Her opening statement attempted to discredit the lines of questioning she would face. She accused “her opposers” of anti-Hinduism, expecting questions about her ties to a religious organization that never came.

She was referring to a WSJ exclusive from the night before her hearing that revealed she had paid a PR firm to hide her ties to an alleged pyramid scheme connected to her Hindu sect.

The newspaper said that the newspaper said the former lawmaker was raised in the Science of Identity Foundation, a religious organization with ties to a marketing firm accused of running a pyramid scheme.

However, none of the questions the Senator asked Ms. Gabbard related to her involvement with the Science of Identity Foundation. Instead, they concentrated on her career in Washington.

The most contentious topic of the hearing was her position on Edward Snowden. This former intelligence official leaked sensitive information about surveillance to the media.

According to CNN, Ms. Gabbard refused to answer whether she thinks Edward Snowden was a traitor. She repeatedly pivoted to saying simply that he “broke the law.”

They also asked her several questions about a 2017 visit to Syria, where she met the country’s former ruler, Bashar Al-Assad, and questioned the US position that he used chemical weapons.

When she made the visit, she justified it by saying she informed US officials, and it offered a chance to accelerate the end of the war in Syria, Politico reported. At the hearing, she admitted it did not necessarily help.

She also denied ever meeting with senior Hezbollah fighters during the trip, during which she also visited Lebanon. According to Politico, she called it an “absurd accusation.”

They also questioned her comments during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She posted on her social media arguing NATO was responsible for Russia’s actions, CBS said.

The senators also pressed her on her views of Section 702, a law that provides surveillance authority to intelligence agencies that Ms. Gabbard has opposed due to privacy concerns.

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