WASHINGTON >> Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.

Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America’s intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage. And she said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.

“The bottom line is this must end. President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.

The questions raised by senators about Gabbard’s judgment and experience make her one of the more contentious of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.

Gabbard’s history, comments

A former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.

It’s Gabbard’s comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. She has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S. surveillance program.

In a back-and-forth Thursday that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her statements supportive of Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.

Several senators, including Republicans James Lankford of Oklahoma and Susan Collins of Maine, pressed Gabbard on whether she would push to pardon Snowden, or whether she considered him a traitor. On the last question, Gabbard repeatedly declined to answer.

“Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” asked Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.

“As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is,” Gabbard responded, before Bennet cut her off, saying “Apparently, you don’t.”

Gabbard 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 said.

On Russia, Syria

Gabbard has been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, asked Gabbard on Thursday whether Russia would “get a pass” from her.

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

A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention.

“I just do not understand show you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn’t condemn him,” said the committee’s senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.

Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.

“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.

GOP pushback

Gabbard is among a couple of nominees who are facing more difficultly gaining unanimous support from Republican senators. Sens. Todd Young, Susan Collins and James Lankford were among the most aggressive questioners Thursday, but it remained unclear if they were satisfied enough by her responses to move her out of committee and confirm her on the Senate floor. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote.

Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard’s nomination and said at the start of Thursday’s hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that he said has grown too large and bureaucratic.

Burgum confirmed

Also Thursday the Senate confirmed Doug Burgum as interior secretary after Trump tapped the North Dakota billionaire to spearhead the Republican administration’s ambitions to boost fossil fuel production.

The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum.

Burgum, 68, is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who came from a small North Dakota farming community, where he worked at his family’s grain elevator.

He served two terms as governor of the oil-rich state and launched a presidential campaign in 2023, but dropped out months later and quickly endorsed Trump.

Trump also picked Burgum to chair a new National Energy Council that’s tasked with achieving American “energy dominance.”