WASHINGTON — There is growing concern in political circles that Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for director of national intelligence could be in serious trouble after a confirmation hearing this past week that left even Republican senators openly questioning whether she should be put in such a critical role, multiple people familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Of particular concern is her refusal to answer directly when asked whether Edward Snowden, a former government contractor who leaked highly classified documents and then sought asylum in Russia, was a traitor.
“It’s 50-50 she gets through,” one person familiar with the confirmation process said of Gabbard.
Democratic senators are expected to unanimously oppose Gabbard’s confirmation in a full floor vote, which would mean she can afford to lose the support of only three GOP senators in order to get confirmed.
Many officials inside the White House were “rattled” by Gabbard’s response to the Snowden question, a person familiar with the White House’s thinking said, adding that she seemed unprepared.
The Snowden moment caught President Donald Trump’s attention, according to another person familiar with the White House’s thinking. As he watched a clip of it, Trump wondered aloud how her lack of a direct answer would play out, this person said.
“He was curious about how it would affect her chances at nomination or if it wouldn’t matter at all,” this person said.
Gabbard was grilled by senators from both sides of the aisle during her Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about her past comments praising Snowden and suggesting he should be pardoned.
In one exchange with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Gabbard refused to definitively say that Snowden is a traitor.
Asked directly whether Snowden is a traitor, Gabbard told Lankford, “My heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nation’s security.”
“I have shown throughout my almost 22 years of service in the military, as well as my time in Congress, how seriously I take the privilege of having access to classified information and our nation’s secrets, and that’s why I’m committed, if confirmed as director of national intelligence, to joining you in making sure that there is no future Snowden-type leak,” she added.
When Lankford followed up with the same question, Gabbard simply said, “Senator, I’m focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.”
The fresh doubts about Gabbard’s ability to be confirmed come after the White House, in advance of her hearing, privately made the case that she needed to do the work to win over skeptical senators.
“She’s the one who has the most work to be done in convincing Senators to vote for her,” one of the people familiar with the confirmation process said.
Gabbard prepared for her confirmation hearing extensively, including holding mock sessions, according to a person familiar with the process.
White House officials insist Trump is standing by Gabbard, and he posted an article on Truth Social on Friday that praised her confirmation hearing performance.
“President Trump nominated Tulsi Gabbard because he believes she will do an excellent job as the Director of National Intelligence, and we expect the Senate to confirm her,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NBC News when asked about any concerns about Gabbard’s nomination.
And when asked whether the White House is planning to defend Gabbard just as aggressively as it did for Pete Hegseth, who faced a rocky path to his confirmation as defense secretary, one of the sources familiar with the White House’s thinking said, “Yes, absolutely.”
This person suggested the White House wants to press senators to vote on her nomination and that the president and his allies will be paying close attention to who supports her and who doesn’t.
Snowden was working as a contractor for the National Security Agency in 2013, when he leaked a trove of highly classified documents revealing the existence of a global surveillance program. Later that year, he was charged by the Justice Department under the Espionage Act and fled to Russia to seek asylum. He became a naturalized citizen there in 2022.
In the past, Gabbard has called Snowden “a brave whistleblower” and even said that she would pardon him when she ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 2019.
“Yes,” Gabbard said at the time in response to podcast host Joe Rogan’s question about whether she’d pardon Snowden if elected.
At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Gabbard whether she would advocate for clemency or a pardon for Snowden if she were confirmed as DNI.
“My responsibility would be to ensure the security of our nation’s secrets, and [I] would not take actions to advocate for any actions related to Snowden,” Gabbard told the senator.
In her answer to a question from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., Gabbard acknowledged that Snowden should not have leaked all of the documents that he did but still seemed to defend his actions.
“What message would it send to the intelligence workforce to have a DNI who would celebrate staff and contractors deciding to leak our nation’s most sensitive secrets as they see fit?” Warner asked.
“The fact is, he also, even as he broke the law, released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government that led to serious reforms,” Gabbard told Warner.
With her confirmation hearing behind her, the Senate panel that questioned her on Thursday will now decide whether to vote her nomination out of committee. If a simple majority — which could be made up of just Republicans — backs Gabbard, her nomination will head to a vote of the full Senate.
But with Republicans holding just a one-seat majority on the committee, that looming vote remains precarious for Gabbard, and the fallout from her testimony this past week was immediate.
Lankford, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had previously told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” he was a “yes.” But after Gabbard’s hearing, Lankford told reporters: “I think there are a lot of questions after.”
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley from Missouri said, “I am worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy.”
The first person familiar with the confirmation process also said there have been mixed reviews coming out of her one-on-one meetings with senators.
But after her hearing, Gabbard met with the chairman of the intelligence committee, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., to review their strategy, according to a source close to Gabbard. The source added that the White House, Cotton and Gabbard have been in lockstep since the hearing.
“We felt really good about the reaction from Senators Collins and Cornyn,” the person added.
The source said, however, that Gabbard’s team was unsure whether she has support from Lankford and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had pushed Gabbard during her hearing about her perspective on warrants related to Americans appearing in surveillance data. After the hearing ended, Cornyn told reporters, “I thought she did okay.”
But on Friday, he announced that he plans to support Gabbard’s confirmation.
Collins, a moderate, has shown willingness to vote down Trump nominees, having previously voted against Hegseth. She pressed Gabbard during the hearing on whether she would push for clemency for Snowden.
Gabbard said that she would not seek a pardon for Snowden, prompting Collins to tell reporters that she “was happy with her responses to my questions, including the question of whether she would recommend a pardon of Edward Snowden, where she clearly said ‘no.’”
A senior Republican Senate aide told NBC News that he or she thinks Gabbard “is going to get confirmed both at committee and on the floor.”
“Her challenges with members are all fixable,” the aide added.
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