In 2020, then-Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard introduced legislation calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who in 2013 revealed the existence of the bulk collection of American phone records by the NSA before fleeing to Russia.

Tulsi Gabbard refused to call former NSA contractor Edward Snowden a ‘traitor’ and stressed that his leaks exposed ‘egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs’ within government agencies (AP)

Any one of those resume bullet points might be enough to sink her precariously perched nomination, but in her confirmation hearing today it was Edward Snowden that dominated the discussion. Judging from the line of questioning from senators in both parties,