The Senate Intelligence Committee has scheduled a hearing to review the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence.
The Jan. 30 hearing comes after Democrats resisted the scheduling of an earlier hearing, saying they still didn’t have the full slate of background checks, ethics disclosures and paperwork on a candidate whose overall qualifications have sparked their concern.
If confirmed, Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker, would lead the agency responsible for overseeing all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies.
Gabbard is one of President Trump’s most contentious nominees, with lawmakers pointing to her lack of experience in the intelligence field, and perhaps more significantly, her relationships with U.S. adversaries.
She met in 2017 with Syria leader Bashar Assad, who was recently overthrown. The meeting came after allegations Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.
She has also been a high-profile defender of national security leaker Edward Snowden and has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric about the Ukraine war.
But she had made headway with some lawmakers in recent weeks by reversing her opinion on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, now supporting the tool that allows the U.S. to spy on foreigners located abroad without a warrant.
“If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said earlier this month.
That pivot earned support from Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“Tulsi Gabbard has assured me in our conversations that she supports Section 702 as recently amended and that she will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI,” Cotton said.
She has also been seeking to explain her past support of Snowden, saying she didn’t feel the intelligence community had sufficient channels for raising concerns.
That explanation has not rested well with all Intelligence Committee lawmakers, however, who have called the National Security Agency leaker a traitor.
A source close to Gabbard said her latest comments to lawmakers reflect a shift in whistleblower protections since Snowden leaked documents in 2013. And while Snowden revealed documents on a different program, Gabbard has been reassured by reforms to how Section 702 can be used, they said.
“Lt. Col. Gabbard made these statements almost 10 years ago and there have been changes and updates to both whistleblower protection for contractors- which was a concern of hers – so if a member of the [intelligence community] needs to raise these concerns there are many avenues to choose from and not break the law,” the source said.
That explanation was criticized on the other side of the Capitol.
“She’s full of s—,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
“Look, she’s doing everything that she can to try to get the next glittery job and demonstrating her complete lack of consistent principle,” he added, saying the shift on the foreign spying program shows “her principles are negotiable, to say the least.”
Updated at 2:53 p.m. EST
