Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, is expected to face tough questions from lawmakers Thursday over past comments about Russia and a 2017 visit with Syria’s now-deposed leader.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.
She’s been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media.
