Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., attends the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of Pam Bondi to be Attorney General in the Hart Senate Office Building on Jan. 29. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Sunday mirrored ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, when he dodged classifying Edward Snowden as a traitor. Why it matters: Gabbard's refusal to call Snowden a traitor during her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday reportedly prompted some GOP discomfort.

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...

President Donald Trump’s allies, including Vice President JD Vance, are making calls to shore up support for both Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard following their confirmation hearings this week, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN. Kennedy, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Gabbard, his pick to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, both faced sharp questions from Democrats — and several Republicans — this week in what amounted to the most direct skepticism from GOP senators over...

Mark Twain once described members of Congress as having “the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes." And true to form, yesterday morning the cowardly lions of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence roared away during former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing to become the next director of national intelligence.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is concerned that Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who has become an independent, may struggle to secure confirmation from his Republican colleagues to become the next national intelligence director under the Trump administration.

Tulsi Gabbard’s career as a national political figure has not been very long, but it has been unusually circuitous: her supporters and her detractors tend to agree on this, even though they disagree about what we should make of it. She comes from Hawaii, where she served in the state legislature and the National Guard; in those years, she campaigned against “homosexual advocacy organizations” and in favor of environmental protections. Gabbard was elected to Congress in 2012, running as a Democrat, and was made a vice-chair of the Democratic National...

This audio is created with AI assistance Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for national intelligence director, fielded questions about her record on foreign affairs and past statements about Russia during her Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 30. Gabbard has previously repeated Kremlin talking points justifying the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia's legitimate security concerns," she wrote on X at the start of the invasion.