Thursday, January 30, 2025

PBS NewsHour: WATCH: Senator Bennet Questions Tulsi Gabbard in Confirmation Hearing

"Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., questioned former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday in her confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence.

Gabbard appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Gabbard is a veteran of the Army National Guard of more than two decades who deployed to Iraq and Kuwait during her service. She does not have a background in intelligence and has come under fire as a nominee for her past positive stances on Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Gabbard was the first American Samoan and the first Hindu elected to Congress. A former Democrat who ran for president in 2020, she became an independent in 2022 before endorsing President Donald Trump’s comeback campaign... 

Source:PBS NewsHour showing U.S. Senator Michael Bennet's (Democrat, Colorado) questioning of President Trump's choice for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

From the PBS NewsHour

"The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial,[1][2][3][4][5] free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia.[6][7][8][9] PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programs to public television stations in the United States,[10][11][12][13] distributing shows such as Frontline, Nova, PBS News Hour, Masterpiece, Sesame Street, This Old House and American Experience.[14] Certain stations also provide service to Canada.[15]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[16] PBS has over 350 member television stations,[17] many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government." 

From Wikipedia

From TIME Magazine: 

"In 2013, Snowden fled the country after removing 1.5 million classified documents about military and intelligence programs, initially traveling to Hong Kong to share some of the files with journalists and eventually seeking asylum in Russia. Snowden leaked thousands of documents that revealed a broad collection of American telephone records by the U.S. government and other secret programs, prompting a national debate about civil liberties. Gabbard has called Snowden “brave.” Senators suggested Gabbard’s support for someone who so famously leaked classified documents would undermine her credibility as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence.

Asked repeatedly on Thursday if she stood by that compliment, Gabbard wouldn’t back away from it. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said. “He also exposed information that revealed the United States’ government’s illegal activities.” Snowden’s leaks prompted Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act in 2015 that was designed to curtail the collection of American phone records.

A bipartisan House intelligence committee investigation concluded in 2016 that Snowden’s theft caused “tremendous damage” to national security and quoted a Russian official saying Snowden did share intelligence with Moscow. 

Multiple senators pressed Gabbard to call Snowden a traitor. She steadfastly refused... 


I hate to put this in terms like this because it sounds somewhat cheesy and nationalistic today, but there are times when the American people, especially members of Congress need to know which side you are on. Do you play for our team or another team. Meaning America, or for some other leader or country.  

This is what Senator Michael Bennet (Democrat, Colorado) was trying to get at here by simply asking Tulsi Gabbard whether or not she thinks Edward Snowden who illegally declassified classified U.S. military and intelligence secrets, so even rogue states like Russia, Syria, and Iran could have that information... was a traitor or not. And she knows about this story because she was in the U.S. House from 2013, 2021 and was in the U.S. Army before that. 

Imagine being a teacher and you have a class of students of just party girls and boys, who never do any homework, never study for anything (other where the next party is going to be and how much alcohol they can get away with) and every time you give them an assignment or test, they all fail the assignment and test. That's what it must be like for these senators to try to interview Bob Kennedy, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth. (A couple weeks ago) They can't, or won't answer the most basic of questions, because they don't either know the answers, or are worried about offending their dear leader. 

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John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat

John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat
Source: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960