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Senate Intelligence Committee to Vote on Tulsi Gabbard’s Nomination for DNI

The Senate Intelligence Committee is set to hold a closed-door vote on Tuesday afternoon on the nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The decision follows heated confirmation hearings last Thursday, where Gabbard faced intense questioning over her stance on government secrets leaker Edward Snowden and her refusal to label him a traitor.

Gabbard, a former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii who later switched to the Republican Party, secured two crucial votes on Monday from Senators Susan Collins and James Lankford. Both had previously expressed concerns over her past statements on Snowden and her opposition to government surveillance programs.

With a narrow margin for confirmation, Gabbard can afford to lose only one Republican vote on the committee.

During Thursday’s confirmation hearing, senators from both parties repeatedly pressed Gabbard to disavow her past support of Snowden, a former intelligence contractor who fled the U.S. with over 1 million classified records.

While in Congress, Gabbard had previously described Snowden as a “brave” whistleblower who exposed civil liberties violations by the intelligence community. She also introduced legislation advocating for the U.S. to drop charges against him, arguing that his disclosures were in the public interest.

Despite repeated efforts by lawmakers to get her to renounce her past remarks, Gabbard stood firm, acknowledging that Snowden “broke the law” but refusing to call him a traitor.

In a Newsweek op-ed over the weekend, Gabbard defended her stance, revealing that she had privately explained her reasoning during the classified session of her confirmation hearing.

The committee’s vote on Tuesday will determine whether Gabbard’s nomination moves forward to the full Senate, where her unconventional views on intelligence matters could remain a point of contention.

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