British magazine The Economist admitted in a profile of Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard there is “no evidence” to Democrat claims she is a “Russian asset.”
The magazine said in a December 13 article:
Democrats have taken to calling Ms Gabbard, aged 43, a Russian asset. There is no evidence for this, yet the charge—however baseless—underlines their discomfort with her nomination.
It also noted her stance against “regime-change wars,” although it did say her “isolationism often veers into Russiophilia.”
Still, the admission there is “no evidence” of Gabbard being a “Russian asset” by a magazine that endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in 2024, undercuts Democrats’ attacks against her.
For example, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said after President-Elect Donald Trump nominated Gabbard, “There’s no question I consider her someone who is likely a Russian asset,” adding, that she would “essentially would be a direct line to our enemies.”
And Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) told CNN, “I think she’s compromised.”
“The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” she added.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who repeatedly falsely claimed there was “circumstantial evidence” that Trump colluded with Russia, accused her of “echoing” Russian talking points.
Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard, responded, “No one should have him on a guest to discuss anything with credibility. What a joke.”
Some Republicans are also suggesting Gabbard is a Russian asset.
Neo-conservative John Bolton told Politico that she has shown “an inclination to believe the most outrageous propaganda against the United States by some of its strongest enemies.”
He also accused her of “parroting the unfounded, Russia-backed ‘biolabs’ conspiracy theory.”
Gabbard had said that the U.S. was funding biolabs in Ukraine — which was supported by statements that then-Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland gave to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March 2022.
Nuland had said, “Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned…Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of 53 Republican senators who will be responsible for confirming Gabbard, told The Independent, “I do not know her at all, so I need to do more research on her visit to Assad, her comments about Putin, Russia.”
Former Director of Counterterrorism of the CIA Bernard Hudson recently defended Gabbard in an op-ed in the National Review, noting that she is an Army Reserves lieutenant colonel who maintains a top-secret clearance.
“Despite relentless attacks from the Left, she has remained an outspoken Democrat critic of some of her party’s terrorism policy — and, by extension, its foreign policy more broadly. This position has aged far better than that of many of her detractors. For this reason, Gabbard has also been the target of vitriolic criticism and was, like Donald Trump, smeared as a Russian agent,”he wrote.
“Her detractors have accused her of making comments supportive of hostile foreign leaders. But these accusations are misleading. Rather than being soft on America’s adversaries, she has been willing to ask hard questions of an often-flawed elite foreign policy consensus,” he added.
“It is wrong to fault Tulsi Gabbard for refusing to reflexively assent to every bit of elite, foreign policy conventional wisdom. Rather, independent thinking is an essential requirement of the job to which she has been nominated. The career intelligence community should take this opportunity to welcome a genuine, thorough review of its enterprise to win and keep the trust of the American people,” he concluded.
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