Trump Cabinet Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence, appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday in Washington. AP Photo/John McDonnell

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced Monday that she will vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Gabbard’s nomination was believed to be on shaky ground after last week’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on which Collins and Sen. Angus King serve.

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press, file

Prior to that hearing, Collins, a Republican, expressed concerns about Gabbard’s past efforts to end warrantless wiretapping of foreign targets, which some senators said accounts for 60% of the president’s daily briefing. She was also concerned about Gabbard’s past support for Edward Snowden, a former defense contractor who exposed the U.S.’s broad surveillance program and is now exiled in Russia.

Although Gabbard refused to call Snowden a traitor during the hearing, she told Collins that she would not seek a pardon for Snowden.

Collins said she supports Gabbard’s focus on narrowing the scope of the national intelligence program, which has broadened since 9/11 and has now outgrown it’s jurisdiction.

“I understand the critical role the DNI plays in the Intelligence Community,” Collins said in a written statement. “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size.”

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Collins, who did little to try and break through Gabbard’s prepared answers in the public session, referred in her statement Monday to additional answers she received in a closed confirmation hearing.

“In response to my questions during our discussion in my office and at the open hearing, as well as through her explanation at the closed hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ms. Gabbard addressed my concerns regarding her views on Edward Snowden,” she said. “I look forward to working with Ms. Gabbard to strengthen our national security.”

The intelligence committee could vote on Gabbard’s nomination Tuesday.

Collins’ vote was being closely watched, in part because Gabbard cannot afford to lose a single Republican vote on the committee if Democrats all oppose her.

Gabbard is not yet assured confirmation, however. Other Republicans on the panel expressed concerns about Gabbard’s refusal to describe Snowden as a traitor.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. Joe Gromelski/Special to the Sun Journal, file

Gabbard faced tough questions during the hearing from King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. He repeatedly pressed her on past efforts to make it harder for authorities to prosecute people under the nation’s espionage laws and her past proposal to drop criminal charges against Snowden.

King questioned how Gabbard, who once called Snowden a “brave whistleblower” but now acknowledges that he broke the law, did not fully appreciate the harms inflicted by the leak of classified material. He noted that a bipartisan report on the leaks contained five pages of redacted material explaining how the leaks compromised the county’s intelligence gathering operations.

“I would have thought that would have raised a question in your mind,” King said. “I’m concerned about your apparent lack of interest in the scope of Edward Snowden’s traitorous activity.”

Collins, meanwhile, is also being closely watched for her decision on two other pending Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine opponent who has been nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Kash Patel, who has been nominated as FBI director.

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