Former officials urge closed-door Senate hearings on Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for intel chief

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have asked Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government’s files on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. She is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as national intelligence director. The former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, say they are “alarmed” by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They say her past actions “call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.” A spokesperson for Gabbard on the Trump transition team on Thursday denounced the appeal as an “unfounded” and “partisan” attack.