Summary

Democratic senators have raised concerns over Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as Director of National Intelligence, citing her past meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her embrace of Russian talking points.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Gabbard shared a video echoing a false Kremlin claim that the U.S. was funding biological weapons labs in Ukraine.

A former Democratic congresswoman and critic of U.S. foreign policy, Gabbard recently joined the Republican Party and would now oversee 18 intelligence agencies and prepare the President’s Daily Brief.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    81
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    29 days ago

    First, I want to congratulate the intelligence operations of our foreign enemies for this great accomplishment

  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    42
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    28 days ago

    Two Russian agents in control of our government. Trump as President and Tulsi as Director of National Intelligence. Putin does not need spys in America any more.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    38
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    29 days ago

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/tulsi-gabbard-dni-intelligence-trump-appointment/

    Gabbard, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, is a one-time middle-of-the-road Democratic member of Congress who has evolved into a Trump supporter. She moved leftward in 2016—endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders that year—and ran for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020 on a campaign that blasted the Democratic foreign policy establishment, before endorsing Trump this year.

    Along the way, Gabbard has demonstrated excessive credulity about claims of autocrats hostile to the United States. In 2017, she drew fire for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a secret trip to Syria. Later that year, she said she was skeptical of US intelligence findings that led then–Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to say US officials had “a very high level of confidence” that chemical weapons attacks that killed dozens of people in Syria “were carried out by aircraft” under Assad’s direction.

    Gabbard’s position aligned with arguments from Russian officials, who provided key backing to Assad and argued that the 2017 attack was staged by agents of the United Kingdom.

    Gabbard again bolstered Russian propaganda in 2022, when she tweeted a video repeating Kremlin claims that US-funded labs in Ukraine were developing biological weapons. The Russian claims appeared to be largely made-up justifications for Russia invading its neighbor.

    Gabbard’s comments drew widespread criticism. “Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) tweeted at the time. “Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.”

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    25
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    28 days ago

    Dumbest motherfucking people in the world elected the dumbest motherfucking administration ever. The only upside that I can anticipate is that these dumb motherfuckers may greatly hasten the weakening of this country, and hopefully speedrun toward something like an end to US hegemony around the world.

  • gencha@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    28 days ago

    I’m not sure I understand why the voters decided this was the right way for their revolution, but it just seems like a weird approach to destroying your government. You still have tons of nukes on your soil. You think those can only go off outside your borders? You think you get a share when the launch codes are sold to the highest bidder? Or are you hoping Musk will be in charge of that, because he’s a rocket scientist?

    I hope they get what they want though.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    29 days ago

    Thune won the Senate Majority Leader post, and he seems like he’s not gonna press the “Recess” button to let Trump put in all his appointments without Senate confirmation, at least as long as Democrats don’t try to outright block any nominations. I think that’s probably the best deal we till get on that.

    https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/13/south-dakota-senator-john-thune-says-recess-appointments-still-an-option-for-trump-cabinet/76265376007/

    So that means we will actually get hearings on this one (and Matt Gaetz), which will be fun to watch. We’ll see if they manage to get 50 Republicans behind those two. They might not.

      • dhork@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        28 days ago

        “I’m willing to grind through it and do it the old-fashioned way,”

        If they attempted to block or obstruct hearings, he was keeping his options open.

        • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          28 days ago

          Honestly, this is the smart move no matter what his plans are. If he took a position either way he’d just be provoking a backlash for no reason, and at the time when his position is most vulnerable.

  • Tire@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    28 days ago

    It’s over everyone. Where are ya’ll moving? I’m thinking NZ