The U.S. Senate voted Monday to advance Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to become director of national intelligence. Many Democrats have opposed Gabbard’s nomination over her 2017 meeting with Syria’s then-leader Bashar al-Assad and past comments blaming NATO for Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is California Senator Adam Schiff speaking from the Senate floor Monday.

Sen. Adam Schiff: “She can apologize for Assad or Putin or any other murderous dictator to her heart’s content. But we’re not considering Ms. Gabbard for some position in which her bizarre fondness for foreign despots is beside the point. She is not the nominee for postmaster general. We’re considering her for one of the most important jobs in our intelligence community. And for that, Tulsi Gabbard is a walking five-alarm fire and must be rejected.”

During her Senate confirmation hearing, Tulsi Gabbard repeatedly refused to call Edward Snowden a traitor.