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Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that it was “surprised” that the director of the National Intelligence candidate Tullesi Gabbard refused to call the A former contractor of the NSA Edward Snowden a “traitor” after being repeatedly pressured the question in a Thursday audience.
“I was surprised because it does not seem like a difficult question about this. I was not intended to be a trick question by any means,” said Lankford.
Oklahoma Senator said it should have been an “easy question” to say that it is “universally accepted when stealing a million pages of first secret documents and deliver it to the Russians, which is a treacherous act.”
Gabbard rejected at least four different questions to call Snowden a “traitor”.
Lankford twice asked about the subject and twice by Senator Michael Bennet (D-Polo.).
When he was pressured by Lankford, Gabbard replied that his “heart” is with “my commitment to our constitution and security of our nation.”
Gabbard said he has pledged if he was confirmed to make sure there is no other Snowden leak doing four actions: ensuring that “there are no unconstitutional (surveillance) programs;” denunciation legal challenges; “And opening a direct line to their” if someone has worries. “
Lankford asked again if Snowden was a traitor “at the time he took the secrets of America, released them in public and then ran to China and became Russian citizen?”
Gabbard turned the question away.
“Senator, I am focused on the future and how we can prevent something from happening again,” he said.
