By David Klepper, Associated Press
Washington (AP) – Tulsi Gabbard, the election of President Donald Trump to be director of National Intelligence is expected, in front of difficult questions of legislators on Thursday Previous comments about Russia And a 2017 visit with The leader now deposed to Syria.
The return and the end during Gabbard’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee could reveal whether the concerns of the legislators of both parties have successfully relieved, or if He cares about his experience and background It will sink its nomination to supervise 18 intelligence agencies in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sph8-nil0qw
Gabbard, a former Hawaii Democratic congressman, is a Lieutenant Colonel of the National Guard who was deployed twice in the Middle East and run for president in 2020. However, he has no formal intelligence experience and has never directed an agency or agency or Government department.
However, it is Gabbard’s comments that have raised the greatest challenge for confirmation. Gabbard has repeatedly resonated Russian propaganda He used to justify the invasion of the Kremlin of Ukraine and criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a corrupt autocrat.
She has been accused of spreading Russian misinformation by republican legislators and has even gained praise in the media controlled by the Russian State.
A 2017 Visit with President Sirio Bashar Assad It is another point of discussion. Assad was recently deposed as the leader of his country after a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. After his visit, Gabbard faced criticism that he was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when he said it was skeptic that Assad had used chemical weapons.
As legislator, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed a key surveillance program known as section 702, which allows the authorities to collect the communications of alleged terrorists abroad.
Gabbard said the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept without realizing it, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.
Now he says that he supports the program, pointing out new safeguards designed to protect the privacy of Americans.
While the legislators of both parties have He raised concerns about Gabbard’s nominationRepublicans have come more and more to support it. Given the thin Republican margins in the Senate, almost all Republican senators will need to vote yes to win confirmation.
Senator Tom Cotton, president of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that while he understands that there are questions about the past opinions of Gabbard, the questions about his loyalty to the United States are inappropriate.
“Five different background verifications have passed. I checked the last. It is clean as a whistle, “said Arkansas Republican in” Fox News Sunday. ” “
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