Now that former congressman Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is no longer a threat to Democrats, they are on to the next one in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.
On Sunday, Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) warned viewers on CNN that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is “compromised” and is like a “Russian asset.”
Host Dana Bash asked Duckworth, who served with Gabbard in the House, what she thought of the former Democrat, accusing her of promoting Russian propaganda.
“Well, I think she’s compromised,” Duckworth began. “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.”
She claimed that the U.S. Intelligence community has identified Gabbard of having “troubling relationships with America’s foes,” accusing her of not being able to pass a background check.
Duckworth said that it would be concerning if Gabbard secures enough GOP votes to get confirmed, claiming she is “very unqualified” and does not have America’s best interests at heart.
“She has no intelligence background whatsoever,” the Democrat argued. “When she was inIraq 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. I don’t know of any intelligence work that she has done. So she is in terms of the intelligence community, very unqualified.”
Gabbard, who confirmed last month that she is joining the Republican party, has an extensive military background. She was in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. In 2005, she received a Combat Medical Badge for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.” Thus, she has more qualifications to serve as Trump’s director of national intelligence than Vice President Kamala Harris ever had to run for president.
However, Republicans were quick to defend Gabbard and dismissed bogus claims echoed by the Democratic Party.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) called Duckworth’s comments the most “ridiculous and outright dangerous” thing to say.
“That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia,” he said.
Other Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), accused Gabbard of being in “Putin’s pocket” and having “very questionable judgment.”