Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, sought on Thursday to dispel senators’ doubts about her national security record, but was still unwilling to call whistleblower Edward Snowden a traitor or disavow her 2017 meetings with Syrian ruler Bashar Assad.
In testimony to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Gabbard sought to paint a picture of a politicized intelligence community, citing “our invasion of Iraq based upon a total fabrication or complete failure of intelligence” and what she called “politicized” efforts to undermine Trump.
Trump’s election was “a clear mandate to break this cycle of failure,” she said, vowing to focus on the role’s “essential mission.”
