President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has selected Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump supporter, as his choice for Director of National Intelligence (DNI). This nomination is expected to trigger a contentious confirmation process.
Gabbard, an Army National Guard veteran, ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat but left the party in 2022, shortly after endorsing Trump. She later joined the Republican Party and actively supported Trump’s campaign, even serving on his transition team.
Over time, Gabbard’s political evolution has taken her from a vocal critic of U.S. foreign intervention, often considered an isolationist, to a prominent figure within the MAGA movement. Her stance on military matters aligns with Trump’s, showing respect for the U.S. military’s power while questioning its use in overseas conflicts.
Like Trump, Gabbard has drawn criticism for her sympathetic positions toward foreign leaders who are often seen as adversaries of the U.S., including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The influence Gabbard will wield in her new role remains uncertain. The Director of National Intelligence is the head of the Intelligence Community, overseeing 18 agencies, but its power has fluctuated with different administrations. Many in the intelligence community argue that the CIA, with its extensive resources for gathering and analyzing intelligence, remains the dominant force within the IC. Trump has appointed former DNI John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA.
Trump praised Gabbard in his announcement, stating that she would bring “the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career” to the Intelligence Community, and that she would champion constitutional rights and “secure peace through strength.”
In 2020, Gabbard also helped Trump prepare for his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, offering insights from her own experience in debating Harris during the Democratic primary. Gabbard emphasized her ability to highlight inconsistencies in Harris’s positions, contributing to Trump’s debate strategy.
Tulsi Gabbard has connections to key Trump allies, including Steve Bannon, who stated that he introduced Gabbard to President-elect Trump in November 2016 for a potential role in the administration. Although that opportunity didn’t materialize at the time, Bannon praised her as a strong “America First” advocate now nominated to lead the Intelligence Community, which he described as “out of control and destructive.”
During her 2020 presidential campaign, Gabbard presented herself as an Iraq War veteran with an anti-interventionist foreign policy. Throughout the Democratic primary debates, she clashed with Kamala Harris, who criticized Gabbard’s foreign policy positions, while Gabbard challenged Harris on her record in criminal justice.
Gabbard’s foreign policy stances have often been at odds with mainstream U.S. positions. In 2017, she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, later defending the meeting by arguing that engaging with all parties is essential to achieve peace for the Syrian people. She also stated in 2019 that Assad was “not an enemy of the United States.”
Even as a Democrat, Gabbard shared some of Trump’s isolationist views, notably supporting the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Despite this, she criticized Trump during one of the Democratic debates, saying he was “not behaving like a patriot.”
In early 2022, Gabbard expressed views sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that the U.S. and NATO’s failure to address Russia’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO contributed to the war in Ukraine. She argued that the war could have been avoided if the Biden administration had acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns about NATO’s expansion, which would bring U.S. and NATO forces to Russia’s border.
During the 2019 Democratic primary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speculated that Russia might be “grooming” Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate, fueling suspicions about her ties to foreign influence.