Tulsi Gabbard's views on Russia, Syria, Trump and government surveillance

WASHINGTON (AP) — As an unconventional pick to lead the nation's intelligence service, Tulsi Gabbard faced a barrage of questions about her past comments on Syria, Russia, foreign surveillance and President Donald Trump at her confirmation hearing Thursday.

The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii is Trump's nominee to be the next director of national intelligence, a job created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that oversees and coordinates the work of more than a dozen intelligence agencies.

Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who served two tours in the Middle East, has alarmed some intelligence and national security officials in the U.S. and elsewhere with comments sympathetic to Russia and government leaker Edward Snowden, as well as her past opposition to a critical surveillance program.

Here’s a look at Gabbard in her own words:

On Russia and Ukraine

Gabbard has repeated Russia's arguments about its invasion of Ukraine, suggesting Moscow had justification to send troops into the neighboring country. She also endorsed Russian claims that the U.S. and Ukraine were involved in dangerous biological research before the war.

She has criticized the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "corrupt autocracy" and has expressed sympathy for Russia's position, given Ukraine's desire to join NATO, the Western military alliance.

“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns,” she posted on Twitter at the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

Soon after the war began, Russian state media advanced the false claim that the U.S. was involved in clandestine bioweapons research in Ukraine. The conspiracy theory relied on the existence of U.S.-funded labs that weren’t secret and were involved in traditional public health research and efforts to prevent pandemics.

Gabbard did not make that distinction when she suggested that the labs could "release and spread deadly pathogens" — echoing similar Russian conspiracy theories about the labs.

"These labs need to be shut down immediately, and the pathogens that they hold need to be destroyed," she said. Her comments drew a sharp rebuke from lawmakers, including some Republicans, who said she was parroting Russian propaganda.

Gabbard later said she had only been referring to traditional public health research, and not secret biolabs. But her comments were taken seriously in Russia, where the state-controlled media has often praised Gabbard. One article last year called her “superwoman.”

Gabbard on Thursday rejected claims that she had spread pro-Russian views: “I don’t pay attention to Russian propaganda.”

Asked by Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas if she would give Russia “a pass” if confirmed, she responded defiantly.

“Senator, I’m offended by the question because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people,” she said.

“No country, group or individual will get a pass,” Gabbard added.

On Edward Snowden

Gabbard has repeatedly praised Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged in 2013 with illegally exposing government surveillance methods. Considered a traitor by many security officials, Gabbard called him a "brave whistleblower" and as a lawmaker sponsored legislation to pardon him.

Snowden received Russian citizenship in 2022.

“If it wasn’t for Snowden, the American people would never have learned the NSA was collecting phone records and spying on Americans. As president, I will protect whistle-blowers who expose threats to our freedom and liberty,” Gabbard wrote on social media in 2019, when she was running for the Democratic nomination.

Gabbard refused to respond directly when Republican and Democratic senators asked Gabbard whether she would now label Snowden a traitor, leading to some of the most contentious exchanges during Thursday’s hearing.

She said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she repeated several times.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, pressed Gabbard: “Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?”

“As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is,” she said in response.

On Syria and visits with Assad

Gabbard traveled to Syria in 2017 to meet with then-President Bashar Assad, a visit that angered lawmakers from both parties who said she helped legitimize an accused war criminal and key ally of Russia and Iran.

Gabbard has defended the trip and her belief that meeting with adversaries can result in dialogue and peace. Assad fled Syria in December after being ousted following his country's brutal civil war.

"When the opportunity arose to meet with him, I did so because I felt that it's important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we've got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we can achieve peace," Gabbard told CNN at the time.

On Thursday, she said U.S. leaders shouldn’t be averse to meeting with all kinds of people to learn and listen and that she “asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions.”

"I shed no tears for the fall of the Assad regime, but today we have an Islamist extremist who is now in charge of Syria," she said.

Gabbard also was pressed about comments she made in 2017 when she said she was "skeptical" that Assad's regime used banned chemical weapons to strike his own people, despite that being the repeated conclusion of U.S. authorities and independent analysts.

“I have not seen that independent investigation occur and that proof presented showing exactly what happened and there are a number of theories of exactly what happened that day,” Gabbard said of Assad’s attack during a CNN appearance in 2017.

Following Assad's ouster, Gabbard has echoed Trump, who has said Assad fell because Russia pulled its support during its war in Ukraine, a conflict Trump has said he hopes to resolve.

"I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made," she told reporters in December. "My own views and experiences have been shaped by my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war."

On government surveillance

As a member of Congress, Gabbard tried to repeal a surveillance program used to spy on suspected terrorists and foreign agents overseas — a program she now says she supports.

The program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence. National security officials say 702, which was first authorized in 2008, has saved lives by preventing terror attacks, while also helping the government stay ahead of foreign cyberattacks or espionage.

Gabbard introduced legislation in 2020 that would have repealed the law, which she said made it too easy to obtain the private communications of Americans without a warrant.

“Protection of our civil liberties is essential,” she said about her bill, which did not pass. “Join us in making sure that our constitutional rights are upheld.”

Her opposition has concerned lawmakers from both parties who said it would be a liability for her nomination as intelligence chief.

Gabbard now says she supports Section 702 and has called it a “crucial” and “vital” intelligence tool. She said her view changed after Congress added protections to the law.

“My actions and legislation in Congress were done to draw attention to the egregious civil liberties violations that were occurring at that time," she said Thursday, adding that as director of national intelligence, she would work to balance security needs with constitutional rights.

On her support for Trump

Gabbard’s loyalty to Trump represents an about-face from just a few years ago, when she ran for president as a Democrat and ended up endorsing her party’s 2020 nominee, Joe Biden.

In 2019, she voted "present" during Trump's first impeachment hearing, but while she declined to vote to impeach, she rebuked his conduct as president, saying he had "violated public trust."

“There is no question in my mind that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president and commander in chief. I’ve said this over and over again,” Gabbard said in 2019.

On Thursday, she said his election is an opportunity to overhaul the intelligence community, which she said had become politicized during investigations into Trump.

“The American people elected Donald Trump as their president not once but twice, yet the FBI and intelligence agencies were politicized by his opponents to undermine his presidency and falsely portray him as a puppet of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” she said. “President Trump's reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure.”

Gabbard was a Democrat when she served in Congress, representing her home state of Hawaii. In 2022, she became an independent, saying the Democratic Party was dominated by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues.

She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans and became a contributor to Fox News.