GOP, Dem Senators to Gabbard: 'Is Snowden a Traitor?'

Republican senators, Democratic senators, and even Edward Snowden urged Tulsi Gabbard to speak out against Edward Snowden at her confirmation hearing, but she steadfastly refused to call the former National Security Agency contractor a traitor. Snowden, who fled to Russia after leaking documents that exposed surveillance programs, was the most contentious issue at Thursday's hearing for President Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, the New York Times reports.

• "This is a big deal to everybody here, because it's a big deal to everybody you'll also oversee," said Republican Sen. James Lankford. "So, was Edward Snowden a traitor?" He asked the question twice, but Gabbard would only say that she is "committed if confirmed as director of national intelligence to join you in making sure that there is no future Snowden-type leak," Axios reports.
• Republican Sens. Todd Young and Susan Collins also asked Gabbard about Snowden. She has praised him in the past as a "brave whistleblower."

• The Times reports that Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet used a "thunderous voice" when he asked, "Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?" adding, "That is not a hard question to answer." As she began answering, again without saying yes or no, he told her: "This is not a moment for social media. It's not a moment to propagate theories, conspiracy theories. or attacks on journalism in the United States. This is when you need to answer the questions of the people whose votes you're asking for to be confirmed as the chief intelligence officer of this nation."
• Gabbard acknowledged that Snowden broke the law but said that as he did so, he "released information that exposed egregious, illegal, and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government."

• In a post on X, Snowden, who became a Russian citizen in 2022, said Gabbard "will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today. I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In D.C., that's what passes for the pledge of allegiance."
• After the hearing. Lankford said he was surprised that Gabbard didn't answer what should have been an "easy question," the Hill reports. The senator said it shouldn't have been hard to say that it's "universally accepted when you steal a million pages of top-secret documents and you hand it to the Russians, that's a traitorous act."
• Earlier in the hearing, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner told Gabbard it might be illegal to confirm her.

(More Tulsi Gabbard stories.)