Tulsi Talks Turkey

Well, more Syria, but anyway.........

Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard appeared before the Intelligence Committee today, resulting in a (predictably) mostly partisan question-and-answer session.

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) more or less provided the Democratic playbook in the first two minutes of the hearing — attack Gabbard for being insufficiently reverent of the intelligence community. These attacks mostly centered around Gabbard’s comments on Syria and Edward Snowden:

It’s not lost on me that Senator Warner’s attacking Tulsi for actions taken when she was a Democrat. So I was curious….did he say anything about Gabbard’s actions at the time? I cranked up the Magic Time Machine and set search parameters between 2012 and 2020. Here’s the only article in which both Warner and Gabbard appear:

But now those actions — such as Gabbard’s flight to Syria — are NOW disqualifying (seemingly to every single Democrat)? Actions that were so anti-American they warranted complete silence when they actually happened?

Seems convenient.

Gabbard later made her opening statement, outlining her vision as DNI. Especially satisfying (and subsequently ignored) was the long list of ways in which the intelligence community has recently screwed the pooch (starting with Iraq):

Other attacks — from both sides of the aisle — came from Gabbard’s opposition to FISA section 702, which authorizes government to conduct targeted surveillance on foreign actors without a warrant. And while these Senators often admit they wanted the law changed, they claim Gabbard is ‘radical’ for wanting to repeal the section outright. (Gabbard claims it “violates Constitutional rights”.)

Gabbard’s current view on 702 remains contentious, and here Ted Budd (R-NC) allows her to explain her stance:

Ron Wyden (D-OR) somewhat made up for yesterday’s embarrassing performance at the RFK nomination, as electronic surveillance is nearly the only issue he remains somewhat sane about. After confirming she’ll uphold the Constitutional rights of Americans, Gabbard lays out her strategy to prevent another Snowden-style leak. Number one: Don’t run illegal and unconstitutional programs!

In this video, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) really really really REALLY wants Tulsi Gabbard to say that Edward Snowden was a traitor. Gabbard repeats that she was focused on the illegal stuff government Snowden exposed and vows to protect those Fourth Amendments rights if confirmed:

(This line of questioning repeated itself a couple times, with similar results.)

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) brings up the TikTok ban. Tulsi defends the First Amendment and notes (much like I did!) that the law gives the President too much power:

In today’s final video, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) wants to know how on Earth Tulsi Gabbard can repeat Russian propaganda that the United States was supporting terrorists in Syria.

Tulsi Gabbard explains — it’s because we were supporting terrorists in Syria.

Maybe the Intelligence Committee should read this?

The truth doesn’t stop being the truth just because Vladimir Putin repeats it.

Overall, today’s hearing was much less embarrassing (for the Senate) than yesterday’s. Before it started, I had zero hope of Gabbard getting any Democratic votes (which is NUTS for somebody who ran for President as a Democrat just four years ago!) — but now I have a TINY bit of hope that Ron Wyden will vote to confirm. Uniparty Republicans I’m much less sure of.

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Here’s the entire event, if you’re so brave……..