ReutersTulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who joined the Republican Celebration to help Donald Trump, is the president-elect’s decide for director of nationwide intelligence.
The wide-ranging tasks imply she oversees U.S. intelligence businesses together with the CIA, FBI and the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA), which focuses on intelligence assortment.
The nomination raised questions on Gabbard’s lack of intelligence expertise and accusations that she amplified Russian propaganda prior to now.
She wants Senate affirmation to take the place.
If she is confirmed for the position, Gabbard will handle a finances of Over $70bn (£55bn) and supervise 18 intelligence agencies.
However the nomination prompted criticism from some quarters.
Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., who sits on the Home Intelligence Committee, mentioned in response to No.
“Not solely was she ill-prepared and unqualified, however she was spreading conspiracy theories and cozying as much as dictators like Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin,” she mentioned.
Who’s Tulsi Gabbard?
Gabbard, an Military veteran who served on the medical workforce in Iraq, set many political precedents throughout her profession.
She first served within the Hawaii State Legislature in 2002 on the age of 21, turning into the state’s youngest ever elected member. She left on the finish of her time period when her Nationwide Guard unit was deployed to Iraq.
Gabbard represented Hawaii in Congress from 2013 to 2021, turning into the primary Hindu to serve within the Home of Representatives.
She has beforehand supported liberal causes reminiscent of government-run well being care, free school tuition and gun management. These points have been a part of her marketing campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, however she finally dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden.
In 2022, she left the Democratic Celebration and initially registered as an impartial, accusing her former celebration of being an “elite group of warmongers” pushed by a “cowardly awakening”.
As a Fox Information contributor, she was outspoken on subjects reminiscent of gender and free speech and have become an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, becoming a member of the Republican Celebration lower than a month in the past.
Controversial remarks about Syria and Ukraine
In 2019, throughout Gabbard’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, she was criticized by rivals for receiving apparently favorable protection in Russian state media.
That very same yr, she was additionally criticized for supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is taken into account a key Russian ally.
She mentioned Assad “will not be an enemy of america as a result of Syria doesn’t pose a direct menace to america” and defended a gathering with him in 2017 throughout Trump’s first time period.
In the identical yr, she Said in an interview with CNN She expressed “doubt” that the Syrian regime was behind chemical weapons assaults that killed dozens of individuals.
Trump mentioned, “There isn’t any dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”
In 2019, Gabbard did certainly describe Assad as a “brutal dictator.”
Gabbard has additionally made a sequence of controversial remarks about Russia and its sweeping invasion of Ukraine.
She wrote on social media on the day of the Russian invasion that the battle may have been averted if america and its Western allies had acknowledged Russia’s “professional safety considerations” about Ukraine becoming a member of NATO.
The next month, she mentioned it was an “indisputable fact” that Ukraine had U.S.-funded biolabs that might “launch and unfold lethal pathogens” whereas calling for a ceasefire.
In response, Republican Senator Mitt Romney mentioned Gabbard had accepted “actual Russian propaganda.”
Russian tv believes her nomination as intelligence director may complicate Washington’s relationship with Ukraine.
“Russia 1” reporter Dmitry Melnikov mentioned her nomination “doesn’t bode properly for Kyiv,” noting that she has “publicly accused the Biden administration of frightening Russia” prior to now.
The channel’s host additionally famous that Gabbard “strongly criticized Zelensky and referred to as for dialogue with Russia.”
Extra reporting by Francis Scarr, BBC Monitoring
