FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Republican senators rejected criticism from Democrats on Sunday Tulsi Gabbardthe election of Donald Trump as leader US intelligence servicesis “threatened” by in his comments supporting Russia AND secret meetingsas a congresswoman with the president of Syria, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and Iraq combat veteran, expressed concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, whom Trump selected for office. director of national intelligence.
“I think she’s reached a compromise,” Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” citing Gabbard’s 2017 trip to Syria where she held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii at the time.
“The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having a troubling relationship with America’s enemies. That’s why I’m concerned that she failed her background check,” Duckworth said.
Gabbard, who said last month she was joining the Republican Party, has served in the National Guard for more than two decades. She was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait, and according to the Hawaii National Guard received the Combat Physician Badge in 2005 for “participating in combat operations under enemy fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.”
Duckworth’s comments sparked an immediate response from Republicans.
“For her to say such absurd and downright dangerous words is inappropriate,” Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said on CNN, calling on Duckworth to retract her words. “That’s the most dangerous thing she could have said – that a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and an asset to Russia.”
In recent days, other Democrats have accused Gabbard, without evidence, of being a “Russian asset.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said, without providing details, that Gabbard was in Russian President Vladimir’s “Putin’s pocket.”
Mullin and others say the criticism from Democrats stems from the fact that Gabbard has left their party and become a Trump ally. Democrats express concern that selecting Gabbard as head of national intelligence will jeopardize relations with allies and ensure Russia’s victory.
Congressman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat just elected to the Senate, said he would not characterize Gabbard as a Russian asset but said her assessment of the situation was “very questionable.”
“The problem is that if our foreign allies don’t trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they will stop sharing information with us,” Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Gabbard in 2022 supported one of Russia’s justifications invasion of Ukraine: existence dozens of US-funded biological laboratories works on the world’s worst pathogens. The laboratories are part of international efforts to control epidemics and deter biological weapons, but Moscow alleged that Ukraine was using them to create deadly biological weapons. Gabbard said she had just expressed concerns about lab security.
Gabbard also suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO.
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he found it “completely ridiculous” that Gabbard was considered a Russian asset because of his differing political views.
“It’s offensive. Honestly, this is bullshit. There is no evidence that it is owned by another country,” he said on NBC.
Sen. James Lankford, another Republican from Oklahoma, admitted he has “a lot of questions” for Gabbard as the Senate considers her nomination to lead the intelligence services. Lankford said on NBC that he wanted to ask Gabbard about her meeting with Assad and some of her past comments about Russia.
“We want to know what the goal was and what its direction was. “As a member of Congress, we want to have a chance to talk about her past comments and put them in full context,” Lankford said.
