Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says He’s “obviously going to vote against [Tulsi Gabbard for DNI]”; “if you can’t call [Edward Snowden] out as a traitor…”

Sen. Mark Warner on MSNBC with Lawrence O’Donnell last night: “I’m obviously going to vote against [Tulsi Gabbard for DNI], I’m going to encourage all of my members on the committee, I don’t care which party they belong to, that this is not the appropriate person that will, on judgment, will make the right judgment calls about protecting the men and women of our intelligence committee.”

See below for video and a partial transcript of what Sen. Warner had to say last night…

• “I’m really proud of this committee. I was chairman for a number of years. I’ve been vice chairman and vice chairman again, and i think we’re the last functioning bipartisan committee in the Senate. And we approached national security as not a D or an R issue. And it was extraordinary today. We asked a simple question. I actually gave Ms. Gabbard, and i respect her service to our country as a legislator and in the military. It’s not about that. It’s about judgment. But at this point in time, after the guy who leaked the most amount of our national secrets, did more to undermine our national security than virtually anyone in modern times, if you can’t call him out as a traitor, as a traitor, she wouldn’t even respond to my questions, saying she would not respond and say he’s not brave or she had a bill to pardon him. And I think a lot of us, you know, I’m obviously going to vote against her, I’m going to encourage all of my members on the committee, I don’t care which party they belong to, that this is not the appropriate person that will, on judgment, will make the right judgment calls about protecting the men and women of our intelligence committee. But also, Lawrence, one of the things, we get about half our intelligence from our allies around the world, there’s no requirement that they share that with us. They share that on trust. If this individual can’t say Edward Snowden, who shared our secrets and other secrets, is a traitor, will these other countries, our Five Eyes partners, partners around the world, will Israel’s Mossad share that information with us on an ongoing basis? That will make us weaker if they don’t share that. And candidly, what message would that send to the men and women of the intelligence committee who don’t get the admiration oftentimes that our military gets, because they do this candidly in a circumspect way, they’re not recognized, nobody buys them lunch. If you’re not willing to stand up for them, if you’re not willing to send out a signal. This role of director of national intelligence, you’ve got 18 agencies, $100 billion, if  you’re not willing to call out Edward Snowden as a traitor, you shouldn’t have that job.”
• “I had huge concerns going into this hearing. I kind of feel like as a guy that used to be in the business world, you know, these hearings are kind of an effective job interview, and I felt like I needed to let Ms. Gabbard make her case, both in the open hearing and in the closed hearing. We had a couple hours afterwards in a classified setting. I had huge concerns. My concerns went up both in open and closed. And I’m happy to tell you and your audience tonight that I will definitely be voting against Ms. Gabbard and encouraging Democrats, Republicans, anyone who cares about protecting the sources and methods of how the intelligence community does its job, how we stand up against authoritarian nations like Russia and China, how we also protect people’s civil rights, civil liberty, rights, yes. But anyone, I don’t believe that, you know, Edward Snowden was a brave whistleblower the way Ms. Gabbard, you know, described him or I don’t believe that he should be pardoned. I believe, like almost everyone on this committee, that he was a traitor and her unwillingness to acknowledge that…I’ve talked to some of my Republican colleagues, I’ve talked to my Democratic colleagues, you know, if we can’t stand the line on this part of national security, where will we draw the line?”
• “There’s enormous pressure from the administration to support these nominees. And I give enormous credit to folks who stood up against the Secretary of Defense. And we’ve got a series of other individuals that make me really pause…I think about some of our Republican friends, I mean, they kept giving her a lifeline. Just call out this guy for who he is, say that you reject this kind of activity. And unfortunately, she wouldn’t do that.”