Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be the next director of national intelligence may not be exciting to you, but it is making one person happy: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In Russia, the response to the former Hawaii ambassador’s nomination has been “joy,” The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Komsomolskaya PravdaA Russian newspaper liked Gabbard in a story last week, saying that “the CIA and the FBI are shaking.” The article also said that Ukrainians viewed Gabbard as “a representative of the Russian state.”
Trump’s decision to nominate Gabbard, of all people, reflects his willingness to accommodate Putin.
“Appointing Gabbard as director of national intelligence is the way to Putin’s heart, and it tells the world that America under Trump will be a friend of the Kremlin and not an enemy,” political analyst Ruth Ben-Ghiat told The time.
Gabbard defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that the US had provoked Russian aggression and that Ukraine harbored US-backed biolabs that produced secret weapons – part of the foreign propaganda that made him so famous for Russia.
Virginia Representative Abigail Spanberger sounded the alarm about Gabbard on MSNBC, noting that, if confirmed, Gabbard would be responsible for covering the president’s daily briefings, and would likely include Russian lies.
Former CIA Director John Brennan also voiced his concerns about Gabbard on MSNBC Tuesday. “[Gabbard] he has done things and said things over the years that are right [have] It caused a lot of concern about where his compassion and feelings are, but he also has no knowledge and experience of intellectual work,” he said.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy told MSNBC that Gabbard was known for “brutal brutality.”
Russia is not the only authoritarian country Gabbard defends: He has also supported Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.