Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard‘s past sympathies for ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad‘s regime are under scrutiny as she looks to shore up support on Capitol Hill for her nomination to become President-elect Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Gabbard faces another busy day of meetings Tuesday on Capitol Hill after meetings with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and James Lankford (R-OK) on Monday.
Her meetings with Senators come just days after the Assad regime collapsed at the hands of Syrian rebels. The longtime dictator was driven out of the country, a sequence of events that renewed scrutiny on Gabbard’s past remarks and a 2017 visit to Damascus to meet with Assad, who has been accused of killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and whose regime was backed by Russia and Iran and.
Speaking to reporters outside of Lankford’s office Monday, Gabbard said she agreed with Trump’s assessment of the situation in Syria. Trump has emphasized on social media that he doesn’t want the United States to get involved in the conflict.
“I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days, with regards to the developments in Syria,” Gabbard said Monday.
“My own views and experiences have been shaped by my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war and the threat of Islamist terrorism. It’s one of the many reasons why I appreciate President Trump’s leadership and his election,” she said.
Gabbard added that Trump is fully committed to bringing about “an end to wars, demonstrating peace through strength, and putting the national security interests and the safety, security and freedom of the American people first and foremost.”
The 43-year-old, who represented Hawaii in the House for eight years as a Democrat, was criticized for her meeting with Assad in which she refused to call the leader an enemy of the U.S. At the time, she criticized Trump when the U.S. military launched a strike as a result of the government attacking its own people, calling it “dangerous, rash and unconstitutional.”
In a blog post at the time of the 2017 meeting with Assad, Gabbard said she went to the country to “see and hear directly from the Syrian people” affected by the devastating civil war there. The trip, which she called a fact-finding mission, sparked controversy when she raised doubts about whether Assad’s government used chemical weapons on civilians, which disputed U.S. intelligence assessments.
At the time, Gabbard was at odds with the Obama administration in calling for the end of support for Syria’s opposition movement against Assad’s authoritarian rule and frequently challenged him on security matters.
The former 2020 presidential candidate, who dropped out and endorsed President Joe Biden, announced she was leaving the Democratic Party in 2022. Days ahead of the 2024 election, Gabbard said she was joining the Republican Party at a Trump rally in North Carolina.
Gabbard, over the years, has staked out a role as an outspoken critic of U.S. military interventions overseas and aid to Ukraine. She has been accused of parroting Russian propaganda about the war, and state-run media in Moscow have praised her and even referred to her as a Russian agent. She endorsed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and even repeated Russian talking points, saying there were 25 or more U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine that could spread deadly pathogens. U.S. officials have denied the claims.
The lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve has escaped receiving as much scrutiny as some of Trump’s other nominees, including Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s defense secretary nominee, whose nomination has sucked up much of the oxygen on Capitol Hill. However, there are questions about whether Gabbard will be able to win over more hawkish GOP senators, many of whom have openly questioned her previous positions.
“We’ve had policy differences. I know her. I like her. Um, you know, she, uh, wanted to stay in the JCPLA, I thought that was a mistake but, you know, she’ll be serving Trump. We’ll see how the hearing goes,” Graham said, speaking with reporters Monday after his meeting.
“When it comes to Syria, how do we keep ISIS from breaking out of jail? You know, we’ll see,” he added, while also mentioning Gabbard failed to fully answer his questions during the first meeting.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) admitted that many Republican Senators have questions but stressed she will have a fair process.
“She’s going to get an opportunity, like all the nominees, to discuss her qualifications and reviews on Syria and a whole range of other issues through the confirmation process,” Thune said.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), another member of Republican leadership, also said “there’s just a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
“I’m certain she can answer these questions,” Capito said. “She’s sort of undefined to really form an opinion [on], so she needs to get out [there].”
Many of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are singing Gabbard’s praises, such as Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who served with her in the House.
“A lot of things have taken place since 2017. Her position, obviously, because of the actions of Assad and what has happened in Syria, has changed,” said Mullin on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
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“She has clearances. She’s able to do her job,” he later added. “And I think she’s 100% qualified to be the next director of national intelligence. And so I’m excited about her opportunity because she is perfect for the position.”
Trump can only afford three defections within the Senate Republican Conference to get his picks confirmed, as the GOP will hold a 53-seat majority come January.
David Sivak contributed to this report.