INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITYRep. Michael McCaul Calls Tulsi Gabbard a “baffling” Pick to Lead Intelligence Community
The Austin Republican leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee and predicted Gabbard’s nomination would fail in the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the House Foreign Affairs chair, called Tulsi Gabbard a “baffling” pick to lead the nation’s Intelligence Community, offering one of the sternest rebukes from a Republican yet.
President-elect Donald Trump selected the former Democratic congresswoman to be the next director of national intelligence, a cabinet-level position that oversees 18 agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. Gabbard ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and later made a hard pivot to supporting Trump. She recently bought a residence in Leander.
Gabbard has stirred controversy for making comments sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin after his 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Gabbard also met in 2017 with recently ousted Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, who has used chemical weapons on his own people as part of the Syrian civil war. Both Assad and Putin are under U.S. sanctions.
“For someone to have this history of comments that appear to be pro-Putin and pro-Assad, who have historically been our enemies, to head up our intelligence to me is a bit baffling,” McCaul said during a wide-ranging interview in his Capitol Hill office Tuesday. When asked if Gabbard’s selection caused him concern, McCaul said, “Yes.”
Gabbard has argued against continued aid for Ukraine in its defense against Russia — a priority that McCaul has fought hard for throughout his time in Congress. She posted on social media in 2022 that the “war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.”
Gabbard is still subject to confirmation by the Senate, and several senators have kept quiet on how they would vote on her nomination. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, met with Gabbard in his Washington office on Wednesday. His office has not said whether he would support Gabbard’s confirmation, though he said after the meeting that he found her “impressive” and that he looked forward to the confirmation process going forward. Cornyn sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he finds Gabbard to be “a very impressive person,” noting her service as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
