In a move that could both directly impact the war in Ukraine as well as indicating future US policy, Trump has tipped Tulsi Gabbard to lead US intelligence, a move that has drawn strong criticism from those questioning her experience and loyalty to the US.
Gabbard has certainly changed political allegiances in surprising ways. She is a veteran with over two decades of military service who left the Democratic Party as recently as 2022, having supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election.
She claims this is what put her on "Hillary Clinton's hit list", which finally led to her change of party:
Clinton and her team has strongly implied that Gabbard has been serving Russia's interests over the USA's (and Ukraine's) by criticising the USA's role in - as Gabbard sees it - forcing Russia into a corner by putting NATO at Russia's "doorstep".
CNN summarises Clinton's veiled accusations:
Clinton never names Gabbard, but there are only five women running for President – Gabbard, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and author Marianne Williamson – and none of the other woman have been accused of being boosted by Russia.
Clinton did not provide proof about how Russia is “grooming” Gabbard. She and her team pointed to allegations that Russian news and propaganda sites often report on Gabbard’s campaign and that moments in Gabbard’s campaign have been reportedly amplified by trolls and bots on Twitter with ties to Russia. Gabbard has denied those allegations.
Clinton points to what might be called "circumstantial evidence" that Russian bots support media posts of Gabbard, but that presumably could be carried out without her agreement or even knowledge.
Gabbard is by no means alone in US public debate in criticising America's diplomacy or lack thereof in dealing with Putin. Several eminent figures on the centre to left like Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs have criticised US foreign policy (including in this criticism both Democrat and Republican presidents):
Gabbard has also propagated other views which distance her from the characterisation of a "typical far-right MAGA extremist". For example, in contrast to Hillary Clinton who said that Julian Assange has to "answer for what he has done", Gabbard praised him as a defender of free speech.
More moderate criticism of Gabbard can be heard, for example, from Poland's former ambassador to the USA, Marek Magierowski, who has said:
"Gabbard has little experience in intelligence work and no one was expecting her nomination for this position."
The nomination will have to pass the Senate. Though the Republicans hold a majority there now, it is a majority of more "traditional Republicans", so Gabbard's confirmation is not guaranteed.
Sources: CNN, TVN24, PAP
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