Arizona Senator Mark Kelly reacts to Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination

YUMA COUNTY, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) spoke out against Tulsi Gabbard's nomination for Director of National Intelligence, calling her unfit for the job.

Kelly, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed out her support for pardoning Edward Snowden and her opposition to key intelligence programs like FISA 702.

He also criticized her doubts about U.S. intelligence on chemical weapons in Syria.

"By her own admission, Colonel Gabbard's doubts about U.S. intelligence in these two cases began with her disagreements about how that intelligence was going to be used. She didn't want the U.S. and our allies to strike Syria as punishment for these chemical weapons attacks, so instead of making a strong argument on the policy, she tried to question whether the attacks happened in the first place."

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)

In an interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS' Face the Nation last month, Kelly responded to his colleague, Senator Shelley Moore Capito's (R-WV) comments about her speaking privately with Gabbard regarding her trip to Syria, where Gabbard told Capito that she was supposed to go to Lebanon "on a scheduled visit," but ended up in Syria.

"I talked to Congresswoman Gabbard...met with her in my office. We talked about the trip to Syria. She didn't tell me that part. I mean, I think it's kind of unusual that you wind up in one place, it wasn't part of the plan," Kelly said in his interview with Brennan.

Kelly emphasized the importance of the position and said Gabbard's record shows she is not the right person to lead the nation's intelligence efforts.

Gabbard was confirmed Wednesday in a 52 to 48 vote.