Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) reportedly stated in a Sunday interview that he will endorse President-elect Trump’s nomination of former Representative Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) for the position of director of national intelligence.
During the NBC News program “Meet the Press,” Lankford credited his endorsement of Gabbard to her change of position on FISA Section 702, which permits the United States to perform warrantless surveillance on non-U.S. individuals situated overseas.
“Yes, I am,” Lankford remarked, when asked whether or not he is a “yes” on Gabbard,
Lankford earlier stated that it was essential for Gabbard to elucidate her stance on Section 702.
“And that was a very important piece for me. Obviously she voted against 702 authority. And just to clarify that, that authority is for actually trying to be able to track terrorists overseas. That has nothing to do with American citizens or anything that’s happening in the United States.” he added, in reference to Gabbards recent change on the issue.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Lankford highlighted Gabbard’s previous opposition to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority as a significant issue for her to explain in the confirmation process.
“She’s going to be the spokesman for 702 authority. It’s a legitimate question just to say, ‘OK, how are you going to handle this? What does that mean?’ Because if she comes out and says, “No, I want to oppose all 702 authority,” that literally shuts down all of our national defense gathering,” Lankford said.
“Now I don’t think that that’s what she’s going to say at all, and I’ve had an opportunity to be able to sit down with her, but she’s going to get a fair hearing to be able to put those things out there and to say, ‘This is what I believe about these issues.’ And I think it’s the right thing to do,” he noted at the time.
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