Trump’s pick for the top intelligence post has been accused of “treasonably” parroting Russian propaganda

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, has been accused of amplifying Russian propaganda. She would take this job without ever having worked in the intelligence world or served on a congressional intelligence committee.

Gabbard, who served in the Hawaii Army National Guard and was stationed in Iraq with a medical unit, has long criticized U.S. foreign policy as imperial and heavy-handed. She has also sharply criticized Trump in the past for his handling of the Middle East during his first term as president, portraying him as dangerous.

As director of national intelligence, a position created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Gabbard would oversee 18 intelligence agencies with a budget of about $70 billion and serve as the president’s chief adviser on intelligence matters. It would first have to be confirmed by the Senate, where Republicans will be the majority from January.

In her public statements, Gabbard often contradicted the assessments of the US intelligence community. If confirmed, her tenure would most likely be marked by clashes with government analysts who see Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government as the main purveyor of disinformation aimed at sowing divisions in the United States

Outraged lawmakers accused Gabbard of repeating Russian propaganda two years ago after Gabbard posted a video on social media in which he claimed “the undeniable fact” that U.S.-funded biolabs were allegedly operating across Ukraine. In contrast to Russian disinformation, it did not state that these were biological weapons laboratories.

The Ukrainian government, the U.S. government, news organizations and independent researchers all said there was no evidence to support the claim that came from Moscow.

Then-Rep. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Gabbard had embraced “real Russian propaganda” and called it “treasonous.” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Gabbard was “parroting false Russian propaganda.”

Gabbard, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to Romney over his comments, denied repeating Russian propaganda and attempted to clarify her social media post, saying in a separate post that “‘biolabs,’ ‘bioweapons labs,’ and ‘bioweapons.'” are 3 very different things. But because these sentences are so similar, misunderstandings and misunderstandings sometimes arise during the discussion. I recently experienced this myself.”

She also argued that her critics were trying to “censor” her questioning of the Washington establishment.

“When powerful, influential people make unsubstantiated accusations of treason, a crime punishable by death, in order to intimidate, silence and censor those who speak the truth, it has a chilling effect on our democracy,” she said.

The US has supported civilian Ukrainian biological research laboratories to protect public health, not weapons laboratories. Russia has repeatedly spread the lie that Washington funded biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine.

Gabbard also criticized the Biden administration for requiring US soldiers to get vaccinated against Covid.

During her 2020 presidential bid, Russian state propaganda often portrayed Gabbard positively while denigrating the other Democratic candidates, including Joe Biden, according to research from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank.

Less than a month into her presidential campaign, there were at least 20 Gabbard articles on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supporting the Russian government — all celebrating her candidacy.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Gabbard said the war could have been avoided if the U.S. and the West had acknowledged Moscow’s concerns about Ukraine’s possible entry into the NATO alliance.

But a potential colleague in the second Trump administration, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who was picked by Trump to be secretary of state, disagreed with Gabbard at the time.

“The promise that Ukraine would never join NATO was not Putin’s only demand,” Rubio said

Conspiracy theories about a chemical attack

In 2017, Gabbard said she was “skeptical” that Syria was behind a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria.

But U.S. intelligence agencies, the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons all concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind the attack.

Shortly after the attack, Russia launched a disinformation campaign to deny Syria’s responsibility and spread fabricated narratives, U.S. officials say.

Gabbard was criticized by members of her own party in 2015 when she called on the Obama administration to stop supporting the Syrian opposition movement against Assad’s authoritarian rule.

“I don’t believe Assad should be removed,” she said at the time, saying Islamist extremist groups would take power if he was overthrown.

She made an unannounced trip to Syria in 2017 to meet Assad, even though the U.S. had cut diplomatic ties with Damascus and human rights groups had accused him of committing atrocities to stay in power. The trip sparked an outcry from lawmakers on both sides.

She defended the trip. “When the opportunity arose to meet him, I did so because I felt that it is important that if we truly care about the Syrian people and their suffering, we must be able to reach out to everyone “We need to meet whether there is any possibility that we can achieve peace,” Gabbard told CNN.

On Wednesday, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a former CIA official, said she was “appalled” by Trump’s selection of Gabbard.

“Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she also promotes conspiracy theories and panders to dictators like Bashar-al-Assad and Vladimir Putin,” Spanberger wrote on X. “As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am deeply convinced of this concerned about what this nomination means for our national security. My Republican colleagues with backbone should speak out.”

During her career in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021 and as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Gabbard often took progressive, dovish positions and questioned America’s military interventions and foreign policy in the Middle East. In 2016, she endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the Democratic presidential primary and retired from her post on the Democratic National Committee.

Leniency for Assange and Snowden

In a 2020 Democratic primary debate, Gabbard called for “an end to this ongoing Bush, Clinton and Trump foreign policy doctrine of waging regime change wars, overthrowing dictators in other countries and needlessly sending my brothers and sisters in uniform to fight in harm’s way.” “in wars that have actually undermined our national security and cost us thousands of American lives.”

In 2022, Gabbard announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, and last month she announced that she would be joining the Republican Party.

She called for leniency against Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, both of whom are accused of leaking reams of classified U.S. information that intelligence officials said at the time potentially caused serious harm to the national security of America and its allies.

Trump’s actions as president during his first term were sharply criticized by Gabbard, who criticized his plan for a wall on the southern border, his policies toward Iran and his support for Saudi Arabia in the war with the Houthi rebels.

In 2018, she referred to Trump as “Saudi Arabia’s b—-” in a social media post after Trump said the U.S. was strongly behind Saudi Arabia and claimed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a role in the The murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi may never have been known. Trump’s statement contradicted the conclusions of the CIA, which determined that the crown prince had approved Khashoggi’s murder.

Despite her criticism of Trump, Gabbard voted “present” at both impeachment trials against him in 2019 for pressuring Ukraine to reveal damaging information about Biden, his political rival.

In 2020, Gabbard condemned Trump over his decision to order a U.S. drone strike against Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani, calling it a dangerous escalation and unconstitutional since Congress did not approve the action.

“It’s about the significance of the actions Trump took last night by violating the Constitution, taking military action and eliminating a senior military commander of another country without any congressional authorization or declaration of war,” Gabbard said at the time.

She also criticized Trump for his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which placed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in return for easing U.S. economic sanctions.

Gabbard, a Hawaii native, began her political career at a young age. At 21, she won election to the state House of Representatives, becoming the youngest elected person in the state’s history.