DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard slammed claims that she is puppet of President Donald Trump or Russia's Vladimir Putin in her opening remarks before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Tulsi Gabbard fought back against what she called “smears,” declaring she is nobody’s “puppet” before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Tulsi Gabbard says she now supports surveillance she once tried to end. The issue could decide whether she's confirmed as director of national intelligence.

Ahead of a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday, the fate of Gabbard’s nomination rests in the hands of a small handful of undecided GOP senators: Maine’s Susan Collins, Indiana’s Todd Young, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Utah’s John Curtis.

President Donald Trump’s new administration is looking ahead to key Senate hearings this week for three of his most controversial nominees.

Sens. Susan Collins and Todd Young, who both serve on the Intelligence Committee, are among the Republicans who have yet to say whether they will support Tulsi Gabbard. Only one Republican would need to oppose her to block her nomination from being reported favorably to the full Senate,

Senators pressed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his past vaccine and abortion remarks in the first of two days of hearings before senators vote on whether to confirm him as President Trump’s health secretary.

Watch the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on President Trump’s nominee for national intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard

Donald Trump’s FBI director pick Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Ambassador to the United Nations hopeful Elise Stefanik are among a string of confirmation hearings happening in the Senate today.

Held on spurious charges, the real reason I was targeted was because I like countless other Christians throughout India who have been arrested, imprisoned, and even killed for their beliefs and practiced a faith deemed anathema by India’s ruling Hindu nationalist political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).