Hours before Tulsi Gabbard appeared for a combative hearing on her nomination as director of national intelligence on Thursday, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave some public advice to the woman who once pushed for his pardon.
“Tulsi Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today. I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In D.C., that’s what passes for the pledge of allegiance,” Snowden said on X.
Even after facing more than a dozen questions about Snowden, however, Gabbard refused to back down.
Instead, Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Snowden broke the law and that she would no longer push for his pardon — but that he had revealed blatant violations of the Constitution.
The idea that any senators would attack anyone for supporting Snowden is much more disturbing than any of the bullshit accusations they toss at Gabbard.
This is the line that the American Senatorial Leadership wants to draw. You can take money from the Qatars until your pockets burst. You can hold really perverse anti-American views on a caste system and work to enshrine them in public law. You can play footsie with the fascist Modi regime in India, the mafia-style business cartels in S. Korea, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, and the Russian oligarchy.
But to suggest that a Bush 43 Era massive domestic spying operation violated the 4th amendment?
Get thee behind me, Satan!