Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn on Friday announced that he would vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as director of National Intelligence, despite previous reservations of her views on surveillance authority. 

The vote of confidence comes as Gabbard faces a potentially rocky confirmation process because of her refusal to label former American National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden a "traitor," despite his leak of classified information to Russia, per The Hill. Gabbard did confirm that she would not seek a pardon for Snowden in her confirmation hearing on Thursday. 

Cornyn, who is an important member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the former congresswoman did "OK," during the hearing.

The senator also previously claimed he would vote to confirm the majority of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, except under "extraordinary circumstances." 

“Having won the election decisively, I believe President Trump has earned the right to appoint his own Cabinet, absent extraordinary circumstances," Cornyn said in a statement on Friday. "Therefore, it is my intention to consent to the appointment of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence."

Cornyn previously said that he had "questions" about Gabbard's stance on expanded surveillance authority under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but she appeared to answer his questions in a satisfactory manner during the hearing.

“You and I talked about the importance of getting dissenting views in front of the President so that we don’t have groupthink, which can be very dangerous, particularly in the intelligence collection areas," Cornyn told Gabbard during the hearing. “I appreciate your agreeing that presenting the policymakers, including the President, with dissenting views is very important.”

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.