In a horrific segment of CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, November 24, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) told host Dana Bash that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the Director of National Intelligence, was “compromised.”
As background, the accusations against Gabbard are longstanding ones that are mainly a smear from inside the Democratic Party. Their attack on her was launched mainly in 2019, during the early primary process for the 2020 election, with critics of Gabbard using her general skepticism of American involvement in foreign wars to claim that she is a Russian asset. The claims have since been frequently repeated by the warmonger section of the party any time it is politically convenient to do so.
The recent CNN incident began with “State of the Union” host Dana Bash bringing it up. She first said, on that note, “Let’s turn to former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who the president elect tapped to serve as Director of National Intelligence. She’s a critic of U.S. intelligence operations.”
Continuing, Bash brought up the accusations that Tulsi is a Russian asset, saying, “She has promoted Russian propaganda. Your fellow Democrat, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, called her, ‘likely a Russian asset.’ Now, you and Tulsi Gabbard are both veterans. You served with her in the House what do you think of her?”
Duckworth didn’t even pretend to think about it. She immediately fired back that Tulsi’s visit to Syria to see what was going on means she is compromised, saying, “Well, I think she’s compromised. I think by going to Syria and basically um, backing you know, a brutal dictator there. I mean Russian controlled media called her a Russian asset. So I do think that we have a real deep concern whether or not she’s a compromised person.”
Then, retreating into vague accusations about Tulsi allegedly having “troubling relationships” with “America’s foes,” providing no other details, Duckworth said, “The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. So my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check.”
Bash, instead of being a journalist and asking for any actual details to back up those vague accusations, said, “So you know, you are a Democrat. You are in the minority now in the United States Senate. If she can find the votes among Republicans likely to get confirmed, it sounds like that would worry you to have her in that job.”
Duckworth went along with it and declared that Tulsi doesn’t have the right credentials, telling Bash, “Very much so. She has no intelligence background whatsoever. When she was in Iraq she was a medical records clerk A-4 below the rank of sergeant. Her second deployment was actually to Kuwaiti naval base, where she only spent three months training the Kuwaiti military.”
Adding to that and pushing the same accusations yet again, Duckworth said, “I don’t know of any intelligence work that she has done. So she is in terms of the intelligence community, very unqualified. Plus she is potentially compromised and could be and has is there questions about whether or not she is now a Russian asset.”
Concluding, Duckworth said, quite shockingly given how Tulsi’s anti-intervention stance largely boils down to wanting to help Americans and keep them from dying pointlessly, said, “I think that she is someone who is wholly backing and supportive of Putin, and I worry that she will not have America’s best interests at heart.” Watch her here:
🚨NEW: Sen. Tammy Duckworth calls Tulsi Gabbard “compromised.”
“Russian controlled media called her a Russian asset.”
Duckworth uses propaganda sleight of hand to work in the desired “Russian asset” smear without directly stating it herself.
Russia Russia Russia. pic.twitter.com/id8KzUSzJe
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 24, 2024
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