Ex-Democrat Gabbard Faces Democratic Senators’ Fury at Hearing for DNI Chief Pick

After Tulsi Gabbard’s tense three-hour confirmation hearing Thursday, Democratic members of the Select Intelligence Committee remained bitterly opposed to President Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence.

Gabbard—like fellow Trump nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—is a former Democrat who curiously faces a more difficult confirmation process than lifelong Republicans, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem.

One such Democrat is Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who was once mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Echoing Democrats’ attacks on other outsider picks, such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Kennedy, and FBI Director-designate Kash Patel, Kelly said he didn’t think that Gabbard would be able to give the president his daily intelligence briefings in an impartial manner and fears she would ignore the established voices in the intelligence community.

Kelly told a press gaggle he was concerned by Gabbard’s “tendency to go to sources that are not reliable and to discount our intelligence community as experts.”

“That’s my big concern, is, how do you sort through all this information and present the right stuff? These are critical decisions that she’ll have to make,” the Arizona Democrat said.

Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, faced a difficult task Thursday, arguing for a drastic restructuring of the nation’s intelligence organizations before skeptical Democratic lawmakers.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who harshly reprimanded Gabbard in the hearing for perceived sympathies with intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, remained fiercely opposed to her in a post-hearing press gaggle.

“I came in with concerns, and my concerns were raised,” said Warner. 

“She couldn’t call Edward Snowden a traitor. She didn’t even refute calling him ‘brave.’ She didn’t even deny her bill to give him a pardon,” Warner said. “What message would that send to allies around the world, to trust, to share information with—someone which was the biggest leaker in American history, and she can’t call him out?”

When asked if he thought Republican senators would vote against Gabbard, the Virginia lawmaker hinted that he hoped they would.

“This committee’s been incredibly bipartisan. We all put the needs of our nation’s security first. I want to talk with my colleagues. I have great faith in my Republican senators’ integrity on these kinds of issues,” Warner said.