In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford explained why he anticipates the Senate Intelligence Committee will have questions for Tulsi Gabbard, whom President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to be the next director of national intelligence.
Gabbard has drawn criticism for her connections to foreign adversaries, including a 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
During her tenure in Congress, Gabbard made an unannounced trip to Syria to meet with Assad, explaining that “if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we’ve got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we can achieve peace.”
In a 2019 MSNBC interview, Gabbard remarked that Assad—accused of using chemical weapons and other brutal methods in a conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives—“is not the enemy of the United States,” citing the lack of a direct threat posed by Syria. She later characterized Assad as a “brutal dictator.”
Lankford gave the following response when Bash asked him if “anything about [Gabbard] concern[s] you”:
“We’ll have lots of questions. She met with [Syrian leader Bashar Assad]. We’ll wanna know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was, as a member of Congress.”
“We’ll wanna get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context. There’s comments that are floating out there but we want to know the full story.”
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Many on social media have also voiced their concerns.
Only 36 percent of respondents to a CBS/YouGov poll released Sunday said Gabbard is a good choice for director of national intelligence. 27 percent said she’s not good and 36 percent said they haven’t heard enough.
Trump has ignored these criticisms, announcing in a statement that Gabbard “will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength.”
