Who Is Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Pick for Director of National Intelligence? | Trump administration

Tulsi Gabbard’s biography has some rare distinctions, including being the first Samoan and the first Hindu to be elected to the United States Congress, where she sat between 2013 and 2021 as the Democratic representative of Hawaii.

But nothing marks her out more than being almost certainly the only potential head of US intelligence to have been publicly suspected of being “groomed” by Russia – a proposal made by Hillary ClintonTrump’s defeated Democratic opponent when he was first elected president, in a 2019 podcast.

The allegation is now surprisingly relevant given Gabbard’s prominence in the nascent administration being assembled by Donald Trump, who on Wednesday tapped Gabbard, 43, to be director of national intelligence, sending shockwaves through US national security circles.

If confirmed by the Senate, Gabbard would oversee 18 intelligence agencies — including the CIA and FBI — employing more than 70,000 people engaged in gathering and protecting the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

Clinton, the former US secretary of state, made her comments at a time when Gabbard was running as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Referring to suspected Russian meddling, Clinton told former Barack Obama adviser David Plouffe, “I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be a third-party candidate. She’s the Russians’ favorite.”

Clinton offered no evidence and did not explicitly name Gabbard, even though her identity was clear from the context. But the comments crystallized concerns about Gabbard’s stance on international affairs.

A military veteran who served in Iraq has emerged as a vocal critic of “war-making” US foreign policy, not only publicly opposing US intervention in the Syrian war but also expressing skepticism over reported atrocities attributed to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al . – Assad.

In 2017, she made a secret visit to Syria to meet Assad, and told him: “Syria is not America’s enemy.”

Gabbard’s attacks on American foreign policy initially resonated with many on the left. She was a surrogate for Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont, in his 2016 Democratic primary campaign and even delivered his nomination speech at that year’s national party convention in Philadelphia.

Her own 2020 presidential campaign was marked by a surprise debate attack on her running mate Kamala Harris, whom she accused of sending marijuana users to prison when she was a California prosecutor.

After ending her campaign, Gabbard endorsed Joe Biden — but her populist profile may have already put Trump on her notice.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Gabbard issued a message on social media it reinforced the concerns Clinton had expressed — and is likely to be cited by intelligence insiders as they consider her future role.

“Dear Presidents Putin, Zelensky and Biden,” she said in a video posted on Twitter.

“It is time to put aside geopolitics and embrace the spirit of aloha, respect and love, for the Ukrainian people by agreeing that Ukraine will be a neutral country – i.e. no military alliance with Nato or Russia – and thus…alleviating the legitimate security concerns of both US/NATO countries and Russia because there would be no Russian or NATO troops on each other’s (non-Baltic) borders.This would allow the Ukrainian people to live in peace . Aloha.”

Later that year, Gabbard left the Democratic Party to become an independent, saying the party was run by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues.

She subsequently campaigned for prominent Republicans, became a contributor to Fox News and started her own podcast — all moves seemingly tailored to bring her into Trump’s orbit, whom she eventually endorsed.

By the 2024 election campaign, she was established as one of the Republican nominee’s most popular celebrity supporters. She was rewarded with a spot on his transition team, serving alongside fellow ex-Democrat Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Her status as a Trump intimate was evident when — thanks in part to her 2019 debate ambush against Harris — she helped prepare his September presidential debate against the vice president in Philadelphia.

Now, with no intelligence experience or even having served as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, she has been chosen to sit at the top of a pyramid that oversees the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency, among other organizations.

Some experts are skeptical of the influence of a position created in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to coordinate multiple and disparate intelligence agencies, but which insiders say is actually less important than the CIA director’s role.

Still, having Trump’s ear could help Gabbard overcome this, given his stated willingness to overhaul a national security apparatus he believes is part of a “deep state” dedicated to thwarting him.

“The CIA director is the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” an unnamed former Trump administration official told Politico. “But if someone had juice with the president and really wanted to make it an instrument of reform, he or she could have a lot of power.”