Tulsi Gabbard faced tough questions Thursday about past comments about Russia, Syria and government leaker Edward Snowden during a Senate confirmation hearing on her nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence service.

Trump’s nominee for director of intelligence said, under oath, that she was not aware “until today” that a prominent cleric she met in Syria threatened to unleash suicide bombers in the United States.

Critics blasted the meeting as legitimizing Assad four years after he used lethal chemical weapons on Syrian civilians. "It was common knowledge that Assad was gassing the civilian population,