Trump's Cabinet Picks A Profile: Tulsi Gabbard

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This is the first in a series of profiles about President-elect Donald J. Trump’s picks for various cabinet positions. I created this overview of Gabbard based on her appearances on Fox News along with additional research.

Trump has said he wants Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The DNI was a position created after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was created to make it easier for various agencies within the Intelligence Community (IC) to coordinate and communicate with each other.

From the DNI website.

The U.S. Intelligence Community is a coalition of 18 agencies and organizations, including the ODNI. The IC agencies fall within the Executive Branch, and work both independently and collaboratively to gather and analyze the intelligence necessary to conduct foreign relations and national security activities.

All 18 Agencies under the leadership of the DNI

• Air Force Intelligence

• Army Intelligence and Security Command

• Central Intelligence Agency

• Defense Intelligence Agency

• Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

• Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis

• Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research

• Department of Treasury Office of Intelligence & Analysis

• Drug Enforcement Administration Intelligence Program

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• Marine Corps Intelligence

• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

• National Reconnaissance Office

• National Security Agency

• Office of Naval Intelligence

• Office of the Director of National Intelligence

• U.S. Coast Guard Intelligence

• U.S. Space Force

Gabbard has no experience with any intelligence agency. Her highest rank in the U.S. Army Reserve is Lieutenant colonel. She also served as a Major in the Hawaii Army National Guard.

If Gabbard is confirmed as DNI one of her responsibilities would be preparing the president’s daily intelligence briefing or PDB.

As a side note the authors of Project 2025 want to increase the power of the ODNI considerably while reducing the influence of the CIA.

Tulsi Gabbard’s Relationship with a Bigoted “Cult”

Gabbard was raised in a family that practiced a version of Hinduism with the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), an organization with a history of promoting hatred and bigotry towards the LGBTQ community, women, and Muslims.

The SIF has been compared to the alt right branch of there Hare Krishna movement. Some former members of the organization have likened the SIF to a cult.

In 1995 Gabbard’s father, Mike Gabbard founded an organization called Stop Promoting Homosexuality America. He also hosted a radio program called “Let’s Talk Straight Hawaii.”

The leader of the group, Chris Butler, is viewed as a living deity. In 2015 Gabbard referred to him as her spiritual guide or guru.

According to reporting by The Daily Beast, Gabbard’s aunt said that her niece’s decision to run for president in 2020 was Butler’s pursuit of political influence.

Although Gabbard and her father both tried to soften their anti-LGBTQ stances when they ran for public office, Gabbard has trashed transgender Americans numerous times during her appearances on Fox.

Gabbard has claimed she has distanced herself from the SIF and embraced the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. Her husband and sister, who are active in her political campaigns, were also brought up in SIF families.

A Timeline of Tulsi Gabbard’s Political Career and History with Russia

• 2002 - She was elected the Hawaii State House to represent West Oahu. Gabbard was only 21 at the time and the youngest woman ever elected to the state legislature. Gabbard began her political career as a Democrat.

• 2010 - Gabbard was elected to the Honolulu City Council.

• 2012 - She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2nd Congressional district of Hawaii.

• 2013 - Gabbard was elected as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

• Nov. 2015 - Advocated for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power. Two months earlier Russia entered the Syrian Civil war siding with Assad. Assad is a brutal dictator with a long history of using conventional and chemical weapons against his own citizens.

• Feb. 2016 - Announced she will step down from then DNC to endorse independent candidate Senator Bernie Sanders for president.

• Nov. 2016 - Gabbard had her first meeting with then President-elect Donald J. Trump to discuss U.S. policies towards Syria, al-Qaeda and ISIS.

• Jan. 2017 - Gabbard tells Jake Tapper during an interview on CNN that she secretly met with Bashar al-Assad during an unannounced four-day visit to Syria. She later said she would personally pay for her trip after she faced criticism for the trip.

  • Her trip was paid for by a Lebanese socialist-nationalist party that worked closely with the Assad regime.

  • Tulsi referred to Syrian citizens who were fighting the Assad regime as terrorists.

  • Although she doesn’t speak of it, in June 2015 Gabbard also met with lawmakers in Turkey and met with opposition leaders and victim’s of the Assad brutal dictatorship along with members of the volunteer rescue brigade known as The White Helmets.

  • Many of Gabbard’s beliefs about Syria were supported by pro-Russian far-left propagandists with known Russian ties.

• April 2017 - Gabbard says she is skeptical that Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian citizens. Pentagon officials confirm that Assad was responsible for the attack.

  • The Atlantic Council published a detailed report of the history of Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians.

• Sept. 2018 - Gabbard appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast where she said that Russia did not try to influence American elections which was in direct conflict with the findings of at least eight U.S. intelligence agencies at the time. She also said that if Trump was found guilty of collusion there would have been a civil war.

• Nov. 2018 - referred to then President Donald J. Trump as “Saudi Arabia’s bitch,” after the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by operatives with the Saudi Arabian government. Khashoggi wrote articles that were critical of the Saudi government.

• Jan. 2019 - announced she would run for president in 2020. She also issued a public apology about her past negative statements about the LGBTQ community.

• Oct. 2019 - responded to a comment Hillary Clinton made during a podcast. Clinton suggested that the Russian government was “grooming” a current Democratic presidential candidate to run as a third-party and openly support Russia. Clinton did not mention Gabbard by name or infer that she was referencing her. Gabbard called Clinton “the queen of the warmongers.”

• Dec. 2019 - voted present for both articles of impeachment against Trump.

• Jan. 2020 - filed a frivolous lawsuit against Clinton regarding her comments about a Democratic candidate who was being groomed by Russia. She dropped the lawsuit in May that same year.

• March 2020 - dropped out of presidential race while endorsing Joe Biden

• Feb. 2022 - Hours after Russia invaded Ukraine Gabbard wrote a tweet on X (then known as Twitter) where she claimed the “war and suffering” could have been prevented if Biden and U.S. allies had acknowledged “Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO.”

  • Later that year a Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov called Gabbard, “our girlfriend,” on Russian state television. He also joked that she was a Russian agent.

• March 2022 - posted videos on X (Twitter) that claimed the U.S. was operating 25 to 30 biological research labs in Ukraine. She accused the Biden administration of a vast coverup and claimed the labs could release dangerous pathogens. Tucker Carlson also repeated the same false conspiracy theory.

• June 2022 - appeared as a guest host on “The Five” for the first time

• Aug. 2022 - guest hosted “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” on Fox News

• Oct. 2022 - announced she is dropping out of the Democratic Party

• March 2023 - said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” that the U.S. destroyed Russia’s Nord Stream Pipeline. At the time of her appearance Gabbard offered no evidence of proof of her accusation. It was later revealed that a group of Ukrainians bombed the pipeline.

• Jan. 2024 - announced partnership with X (Twitter)

• Aug. 2024 - started working with the Trump/Vance presidential transition team.

• Oct. 2024 - Gabbard officially announces she joined the Republican Party at a Trump rally

• Nov. 2024 - Trump announced he selected Gabbard as his pick as Director of National Intelligence (DNI)

Fox News Appearances