Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) acknowledged Gabbard’s “unconventional views,” but characterized her as free thinker who can push back on the type of mainstream foreign policy thinking that has dragged the country into disastrous wars abroad.

Gabbard was questioned by Republicans and Democrats alike on her views of Snowden and whether she believes he was a traitor. She declined to say she believed he was a traitor, repeating that she felt he had broken the law and reiterating a point that she has made in the past, that he exposed practices that have resulted in the reform of 702.